A Grain of Sand ' 'Adventure 03' '
by apocalypsering
Summary: A kid from America moves to Tokyo and enters the digidestine's school, but there's more to him than meets the eye. THIS STORY IS NOW FINISHED!
1. Light

_Disclaimer: obviously, characters belonging to Digimon are not mine. Also, songs that I use in this story are not mine. _

Chapter 1: Light

_I'm falling apart again, And I can't find a way to make amends  
And I'm looking in both directions, But it's make believe, it's all pretend_

_So...  
Shed some light on me, and hold me up in disbelief  
And shed some light on me, and tell me something that I'll believe in_

_It's innocence within the maze, But I have chosen the wrong way  
I'm still getting over who I was, There's no sense of trust, there's no definition of love_

_So...  
Shed some light on me, And hold me up in disbelief  
And shed some light on me, And tell me something that I'll believe in_

_I know now, it's not who you are, It's who you know, And I see clearly now, which way to go  
I remember the way I fell from above, And I recall the way I was_

_So...  
Shed some light on me, And hold me up in disbelief  
And shed some light on me, And tell me something that I'll believe in  
Shed some ling on me, And hold me up in disbelief  
And shed some light on me, And tell me something that I'll believe  
Tell me something that I'll...  
Tell me something that I'll believe, Tell me something that I'll believe  
Something I'll believe_

I guess we were wrong to assume that we knew everything about the digital world. I think we almost assumed that after my first trip there when I was eight. We were wrong then, when we assumed that we understood it, and even after our recent adventures it would be silly to think we've learned that much. Of course, we have learned that we are not the only digidestined. In fact, there are hundreds of them from all around the world. But even more surprising to us was the existence of even more parallel worlds. After all these experiences I don't think I'll ever really be able to understand the digital world entirely.

I should probably introduce myself. My name is Kari, and I am now thirteen years old. The adventures that I was talking about happened almost five years ago, some of them right here in Tokyo. My brother Tai and all of his friends returned from summer camp early that year, apparently because it snowed. That didn't make sense at first, but my confusion didn't last long. I found out that they had been to a strange parallel world called the digital world. Not only that, but the digital world was beginning to cross over into the real world. Digimon, that's short for digital monster, were beginning to appear all over the city. But my brother and his friends all had digimon of their own, partners, if you will, to help fight off the evil digimon. They are the digidestined, and eventually we discovered that I am one too. Gatomon, who used to work for an evil digimon named Myotismon, is my digimon partner. After she helped us to defeat Myotismon, we all traveled to the digital world to help rid it of evil. We fought the Dark Masters and Apocalymon, but managed to win by realizing the power of our crests.

That brings me to another interesting point. All of the digidestined have their own crest, which is linked to their strongest personal characteristic. My crest is light. But the crests are more than just characteristics; they had enough power to allow all of our digimon to digivolve to the ultimate level. Gatomon, who was a champion level digimon already, was able to digivolve into Angewomon, an ultimate level digimon. Unfortunately, after we defeated apocalymon, we had to give up most of the power of our crests to create a barrier to protect the digital world from evil. It wasn't easy, especially for the digimon who would lose their ability to digivolve to ultimate, but we did it and made the digital world safer.

After that, several more of our friends became digidestined, and we learned that there are hundreds of digidestined all around the world. It was surprising at first, but after everything that has already happened it didn't seem like a big deal. Besides, I would like be friends with all the other digidestined. I'll never be able to meet them all, but with Izzy's help we are trying to create a network of digidestined all over the world.

I should probably introduce our group before the story continues. After all, everyone played such an important part in our adventures that they deserve proper introductions. I'll start with Tai.

Tai is my older brother, and has really become the leader of our group. Even though he doesn't have a D3, we still look to him for leadership. His crest is courage, and his digimon is Agumon. Tai is a really good brother, but he's an even better leader for our group. He can keep his head in tough situations and has really learned to watch out for everyone else.

Next is Matt, TK's older brother. Matt's crest is friendship, and he had a hard time discovering it at first. I guess the strongest friendships have to be tested, and Matt came through for us when we needed him. The power of the crests affects everyone, and Matt's crest is one of the most valuable that we have. His digimon is Gabumon. Gabumon is kind of shy, but he is always ready to help his friends, no matter what might happen.

I'll introduce TK next. TK is a few weeks younger than me, making him the youngest member of the original group. His crest is hope, and he his ability to hang on to that hope has saved us on countless occasions. TK is very nice and friendly, but he can become very emotional about darkness. Still, he always believes in our group's ability to defeat the darkness. His digimon is Patamon, who sometimes has trouble digivolving. But TK never gave up on him, and Patamon did finally digivolve when we needed him most.

Sora is one of my best friends, and a very important part of our team. Her crest is love, and she is the perfect match for it. She cares deeply about everyone in the group, and acts as a motherly figure. She always wants to protect everyone and never leaves anyone behind. She is one of the nicest people you'll ever meet. Biyomon is her digimon, and she shares many of Sora's characteristics, including her extreme protectiveness. She sometimes puts too much pressure on herself to help everyone, but too much love is a gift that I would never refuse.

Mimi moved away, to New York City in America. Even though she's far away, we still keep in touch with her, and we arrange to meet her in the digital world all the time. Her crest is sincerity, and she always seems to be able to bring out the best in people. She doesn't like violence, but she and Palmon will pitch in when they are needed. I miss her a lot, but I know that she's happy in America.

Izzy is one of the smartest people I know. He is very skilled with computers, and uses logic to solve some of our most puzzling problems. His crest is knowledge, as can be expected. Tentomon is his digimon. Although Izzy is not the most talkative person in the group, and his explanations can sometimes be confusing, we all know that we'd be completely lost without him.

The last member of the original group is Joe. Joe is the oldest member of our group, and I think he feels responsible for us most of the time. He is usually the most practical. He remembers to bring supplies, like food and bandages. We've nicknames him "Old Reliable", partly because he is the oldest and most reliable member in our group, but also because he has the crest of reliability. Gomamon is his digimon, and is much more carefree than Joe. Still, we can always count on them in a pinch.

I am the last member of the original group. As I said before, my name is Kari, and my crest is light. My crest seems to have some strange powers, and according to Aunlongmon it and TK's crest have power that is shared among the entire group. I guess that kind of makes our crests different from the rest. I like to think of myself as a nice person. Tai says that I keep my thoughts bottled up because I'm afraid of hurting someone's feelings, but I don't notice it that much. Tai can be pretty silly sometimes. Gatomon is my digimon, and is the only one who seems to be able to consistently stay in champion form. She actually used to be a henchman of Myotismon, an evil digimon, but Wizardmon helped her find out that she was actually good. Wizardmon was killed by Myotismon when he tried to save me and Gatomon, but we remember him as a friend who was there when we needed him most.

Now I'll talk about the three new members of our team. They were added recently to help us prevent Myotismon's return as Malomyotismon. First off is Davis. His crest is courage, just like Tai. He's developing into a strong leader, and he was able to save us with his crest when Malomyotismon was tricking us into dreaming of something that wasn't real. But he can be very immature sometimes too. I think he has a crush on me, but he does a really bad job of showing it sometimes. His digimon is Veemon, but when Veemon spends time in the real world he digivolves back to Demiveemon.

Yolei is the second person added to our team recently. She received the crest of love, like Sora, but is still learning about its power. She cares about all of us very much, and is there to help us in tough times, but sometimes she talks too much and she has a tendency to say the wrong thing at the wrong time. It's not her fault, she just doesn't know any better. Her digimon is Hawkmon.

Cody was added to our group at the same time as Yolei and Davis. His crest is knowledge. He is very quiet and kind of small for his age, but don't underestimate him in a fight, he practices Ken-Do. He is very smart but tends to be shy. It took a long time for him and Ken to become friends. Still, he is one of the most dependable people I know. His digimon is Armadillamon.

Ken is the most recent addition to our group of friends. He was once corrupted by a dark spore, but since then he has learned the true meaning of his crest, kindness. He is very smart and a skilled athlete, but is slow to make friends. He tends not to trust people, partly because his older brother died when he was little. But he's become one of our friends now, and I'm really glad that he has. His digimon, Wormmon, helped him to realize how powerful his crest really could be. Ken is one of very few people who have seen the dark ocean, along with TK, Yolei, and I.

Since the end of our last adventure, nothing has really happened. I worry sometimes that this could be the calm before the storm, but we can never really know. For now, I'm happy believing that most of our problems with the digital world are over. I hope that from now on it can just be a place where we go to have fun with our digimon. I know that problems are inevitable, nothing is perfect after all, but as long as we stick together, we can get through anything. I know it sounds kind of corny, but I really believe that.


	2. A New Kid

Chapter 2: A New Kid

My mother once told me not to take anything for granted. I try my best not to, especially after everything we've been through. Every morning as I walk to school, before I reach Kari and Tai's apartment, I stare up at the sky. Every morning, weather it's sunny or not, I'm glad that it's there. This might seem like a strange thing to find happiness in, but I can still remember looking up and seeing not the sky, but another world, the digital world. After we defeated Myotismon, seeing that world instead of the sky meant that we weren't done yet, that there were still trials to face. And so, now that it's all over, I am thankful that every morning I can look up and still see the sky stretching out high above me.

"TK! What took you so long? I was about to leave without you." Kari smiled as I approached.

"Sorry, I was just a little slow getting out of bed."

"That's okay. But we'd better hurry. We don't want to be late for class."

"Of course not, let's go." And we set off for school, walking quickly to make up for lost time. Kari is a little older than me, but only a few weeks. Ever since she came back to the digital world with us all those years ago I've really learned a lot about her. She's as nice as they come, and she never worries about herself. She always puts everyone else first, and that's not always a good thing. She got sick once in the digital world because she didn't say that she was tired so as not to slow everyone down. That got Tai pretty mad, but everything turned out okay in the end. She would do anything to help a friend, no matter what.

We slowed down as we approached the school. My watch is always fast, so we actually had more time than we thought. We walked past Davis and Ken, who were playing soccer in the school yard. We both yelled hello to them, but they were concentrating too hard on the game and didn't hear us. We eventually met up with Cody on the way to our first class.

"Kari! TK! How was your weekend?" Cody asked cheerfully.

"It was alright I guess." I said. "Matt's band was playing at a small party in the park, and that was fun."

"Tai and I went to see Japan play China last night. It was a blast."

"I wish I could've been there." I said. "I had too much homework."

"Yeah, me too." Cody said. "But I'm going to try to be at the next game."

"You guys should have done your homework before the game like me and Kari." Davis said as he finally got into the classroom.

"You two did your homework together?" I asked, somewhat surprised.

"Davis needed help in math." Kari said with a chuckle.

"I did not! I was just confused by the wording of the problem, that's all." Davis yelled.

"Class, settle down and take your seats." The teacher said as he walked in. We all sat down and looked up at the teacher. "Now, there will be a new student joining us today. His family just moved here from America, and for those of you who have neglected your geography lessons, that's almost on the other side of the world." The class made a feeble attempt to laugh at the joke.

Standing next to the teacher was a boy who seemed to be our age. He had short black spiked hair and deep green eyes. He wore a hooded sweatshirt with the orange insignia of some American football team, but I don't know enough English to be able to read the name. His jeans were torn at the knees and had small tears elsewhere. Around his neck he wore a cross pendant, and some other pendant that was tucked into his shirt. He had a distinctly American look, and his posture suggested a confidence that he would succeed regardless of what setting he was in. He carried a guitar in a case along with his backpack.

"Hi everyone, my name is Will. As Mr. Kaiyama said, I just moved here from America. I look forward to learning with you, and I hope my Japanese isn't too bad." Actually, his Japanese was very good, and it surprised me, because he didn't look like the type who would learn Japanese.

"Thank you Will. Please take that seat in the front." The teacher said, indicating the desk across the aisle from me. "Now class if you'd please take out your text books, we were reading about . . ." And the teacher began the lesson.

Will seemed to be able to keep up fairly easily. He was writing notes the entire class, as everyone else except Davis and a few other kids were. I didn't get a chance to talk to him until lunchtime. He seemed a little lost as he went through the line. He obviously didn't know what any of the food was.

"Hey Will, you should try this stuff." I said, indicating a tray. "It's sushi. It's really good."

"Thanks kid," he said as he added some to his plate. "You obviously know my name, so what's yours?"

"TK," I said with a smile. "You should come sit with us. After class we can show you around the school."

"Thanks TK. And tell me if I do anything that's, uh, unorthodox. I don't want to make a big mistake on my first day in Japan."

"No problem. Everybody will help you out." I said with a smile as I led him to our table.

"Alright Will, this is Cody, Davis, Yolei, Kari, and Ken." I said as I introduced him to everyone.

"Nice to meet you," He said to everyone in turn, shaking their hands. It was more than obvious that he was American.

"So, are you from New York City? We've got a friend that moved there a few years ago," Kari asked.

"No, I'm from a city called Buffalo. It's in the same state as New York City, but on the other side," Will explained. "It's very close to Niagra Falls."

"That's the biggest waterfall in the world, right?" Davis asked.

"Actually, it's not the tallest," Cody explained. "It is the largest in terms of volume, that is to say, it has the most water falling off of a cliff of anywhere in the world."

"Whatever," Davis said, rolling his eyes." So what's that on your shirt?"

"This is the logo for the Cincinnati Bengals. It's a football team in America," Will explained.

"But I thought you were from Buffalo," Yolei said.

"I am mostly. I was born in Cincinnati, but my family moved to Buffalo when I was little. Buffalo does have their own football team, but they're really bad so I just stick to cheering for the Bengals," Will explained with a smile.

"Do you play football?" Davis asked. "Cause I'm really good, and I could teach ya some stuff."

"No, I don't. I swim and I play volleyball," Will said. "But I'm pretty sure I could beat you at football anyways."

"Oh yeah? Then after school we should have a game. I'll bet you can't score against me," Davis said.

"Well, it is a team sport, but I'd love to play. I'll see you guys there."

"We had better finish up everyone. Class is about to start again," Kari said.

"Oh yeah, we'd better hurry," Davis quickly agreed. A small laugh went around the group. "What's so funny?" Davis demanded, but nobody could answer because the bell rang just as he asked. We all rushed off to class.

The schoolyard was full of kids after we got out, so we decided to head to the park to play instead. Our digimon stayed at the school, promising not to get into trouble, with the exception of Gatomon, who we could pass off as Kari's cat.

"That is the weirdest looking cat I think I've ever seen." Will commented as we walked down the street.

"She's kind of a rare breed." Kari said with a laugh which only Will failed to understand, but for obvious reasons.

"Why'd you have her tail pierced?" Will asked, noting Gatomon's tail ring.

"Well, I, uh, thought it looked cute," Kari said. Gatomon smiled at Kari, but was careful to hide the expression from Will. We had decided shortly after our last adventure that we should try to keep the digital world a secret for as long as we could.

"It looks nice. I'm just not sure that it's so nice for the cat." Will said.

"I think Gatomon likes it," Kari replied, again looking at Gatomon, who rolled her eyes at Will's apparent ignorance.

"Guys, does it really matter? We're here and I want to start playing before the end of the century." Davis complained as he set down his bag and pulled the round, black and white ball out of it.

"How do you fit that in your bag with all of your books?" Cody asked.

"What books?" Davis said.

"Your schoolbooks," Cody explained.

"Huh?"

"C'mon Cody, when was the last time Davis read anything but a comic book?" Yolei asked rhetorically.

"Can we stop discussing this and play already?" Davis screamed. "Alright Will, let's see . . . what are you staring at? Hey, what's so funny?"

Will was staring at Davis's ball with an amused and understanding smile on his face. "I just realized that we're not going to be throwing touchdowns with your ball," Will said.

"What does that mean?" Davis asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Ken started, "Will thought that you meant the American version of football. He would call this game soccer."

"Sorry, it was my mistake," Will said with a big grin. "I guess you could say it was lost in translation. Probably won't be the last time either."

"Oh, does this mean you're not gonna play?" Davis complained.

"I'll try to play, but don't be surprised if I'm not very good." Will said.

"No problem! Let's just get going already." Davis said as he dropped the ball to the ground and prepared to kick it.


	3. File Island

Chapter 3: File Island

I don't know if I'd really call File Island our home. I suppose in a way it is. After all, it is where most of us were hatched and grew up, with the exceptions of Gatomon, Veemon, Hawkmon, and Armadillamon. We all waited here for our humans to show up, eating, growing, and playing together. Still, I don't think it really counts as a home. I'm not sure we have a home, or even that we need one. We've always seemed to get along fine as a little group wandering around the island, and even as we wandered around the rest of the digital world with our humans. In fact, I'd prefer to think that we all are each other's home. Our little group protects its members and we generally have fun together. That's all the home I could ever ask for.

Oops, I guess I didn't introduce myself. Joe is always getting on me about manners and silly stuff like that. I'm Gomamon, Joe's digimon. Out of our group, I'm the only one who can really swim very well, unless you count Armadillamon's armor digivolution. That makes me special in a way, I guess, but I also am one of very few who cannot fly at some point in their digivolution. I guess everything has its pros and cons.

Anyways, at the moment there are only six of us here, Agumon, Biyomon, Gobumon, Palmon, Tentomon, and yours truly. Patamon was in our original group of seven, but he stays in the real world with TK now. Also, Gatomon was supposed to be in our group, but her egg was separated from ours a long time ago, and so she grew up elsewhere. She's staying in the real world too. The other four digimon from the digidestined we all recently met stay there too. They pretend to be stuffed animals or something so that people won't get suspicious. I remember having to do that when I first went to the real world, and it was a real pain. But it was Yokomon, Biyomon's in training form, who actually came closest to blowing our cover. Joe had been so afraid it would be me, although I can't figure out why.

We haven't really had any problems since Malomyotismon was destroyed. That guy really gets on my nerves, more because he keeps coming back than anything else. As far as we know, he's gone for good, but we thought that twice already and were proven wrong. But we'll always be able to beat him. Even if I can't digivolve to Zudomon anymore, we've always found a way in the past and we will again if necessary. But since he's gone, nothing has really turned up. Sometimes digimon will get into fights over food, or territory, or who's the best at catching fish, which is me of course, but most problems are resolved fairly easily. If not, me and the rest of our team are able to settle things down fairly easily. I guess we've become a kind of police force for File Island. We don't leave the island much, more because it's very hard to than anything else, but if anything seriously bad happened somewhere our human friends would join us here and we'd take it on together.

Humans can act pretty strange sometimes, which we learned during our first adventure. They seem completely incapable of surviving on their own, for one thing. But I guess they transform their weakness into strength by working together. We, on the other hand, managed to survive here for a long time before they arrived. Knowing this, I think that I have a better knowledge of survival than Joe, no matter what he says.

I guess the first sign of our upcoming problem was when Frigimon went insane. I don't know what exactly happened, but we were wandering around the forest when we came across him. He was sub-zero ice punching everything in sight, from the trees and rocks to the ground itself. It surprised us more than anything, as he seemed to be methodically working his way through the forest.

"Frigimon, what on earth are you doing?" Biyomon asked. Frigimon ignored her, simply continuing to freeze trees solid. "Frigimon! Hello? What's going on?" but he continued to ignore her.

"Maybe he's afraid the trees are overheating." I said.

"That can't be it." Gobumon said as he shot down what I felt was a perfectly good theory.

"Then what do you think it could be?" Agumon asked.

"I don't know, but at this rate he could freeze the entire forest." Palmon observed.

"He could be trying to reduce the supply of firewood." I offered again, but once again Gobumon shut down my theory.

"Gomamon this is serious. Something could really be wrong with him."

"Well we've got to do something. We can't let him freeze the forest," Palmon said.

"We should call Tai or Izzy. Maybe they'll know what to do." Agumon said.

"If nothing else, Izzy can look at Frigimon's data and discern what is wrong with him." Tentomon said. "I'll fly back to the factory and send him an email," and he took off in the direction of the factory. Biyomon followed, just because it's never a good idea to go anywhere alone in the digital world, even without super powerful evil digimon

Izzy had set up a basic computer in the factor that Andromon guards so that we would be able to keep in touch through e-mail. I usually send Joe some junk mail at least twice a week.

Nobody had any idea on how to stop him. We were all rookies, while Frigimon was a champion. Our only option was to wait for some humans to show up so that we could digivolve, and for some reason they were a long time in coming. We watched Frigimon continue to freeze the forest, occasionally calling out to him but to no avail. We weren't mad or anything, more just confused and worried about him. Finally, Tai showed up with Izzy, Kari, and Gatomon. Kari had to come because only the D3s, the new digivices that she, TK, Davis, Yolei, Cody, and Ken had, could open the gates to the digital world.

"We're here. Tentomon filled us in on the way over." Tai said.

"So you guys have no idea why he's doing this?" Izzy asked.

"None whatsoever. He won't answer us. He just keeps on freezing everything in sight," Agumon explained.

"So what are we gonna do?" Gatomon asked.

"I don't think we should hurt him." Kari said.

"But at this rate he's gonna freeze the entire island!" I protested.

"Gomamon's right. We have to stop him." Izzy stated.

"I am?" I asked, somewhat surprised. I'm not right very often in case you haven't noticed.

"Well, I can stop him for ya," Gatomon said. She was a champion level after all. "But I don't know how much I'd have to hurt him."

"Alright everyone, we'll have to attack him. Maybe if we can get his attention he'll explain what he's doing." Tai said.

"Try not to hurt him," Kari said as we all prepared to attack.

Frigimon didn't notice us until Agumon hit him with his Pepper Breath. He then finally turned toward us, but instead of explaining, he attacked. Gabumon, Biyomon, and Tentomon failed to hurt him at all, he was just too strong. It was Gatomon that managed to knock him backwards into one of the frozen trees. I couldn't do much to help because we were too far from water, but I did my best to encourage everyone. The big surprise came when Palmon used her Poison Ivy. Frigimon suddenly stopped moving around when the vines wrapped around him. We all stopped too. He stood there; looking very confused, and then asked the most cliché question of all time.

"Where am I?"

"You're in the forest," Palmon said as she released him. "Don't you remember what you were doing?"

"No, I'm afraid I don't. What was I doing in the forest?" Frigimon asked, clearly confused.

"Freezing it. Look behind you," Palmon said.

Frigimon turned and saw the path of frozen trees behind him. "Oh. Oh my. I did that? Oh, I'm really sorry everyone. I had no idea what was happening."

"Frigimon, I think you may have been temporarily insane. What's the last thing you remember?" Izzy asked.

"I don't know really. My head hurts, a lot. I thought I was getting a drink from the river. I have no idea what came over me."

"Well, don't worry about it too much. Just try not to take any bumps on the head for a while." Izzy said.

"Absolutely. Thanks for helping me out everybody. I really owe you," Frigimon said. After that he walked off, back toward the icy part of the island far to the north. I don't think any of us could have guessed what was wrong with him. I sure wasn't about to put forward any suggestions.

"So what took you guys so long in getting here?" Agumon asked Tai.

"Well, we had to track down Kari in the park. We needed her to open the digiport," Tai replied. "It's not that much of a problem is it? All this will melt eventually won't it?"

"Yes, over a few days it will go away," Izzy said. "But I think we should be more concerned about why Frigimon was acting like this."

"Digimon act strangely sometimes Izzy. It was probably just a bug or something," Tentomon offered.

"But what I don't understand is why he would ignore us like that, at least until we attacked him. It doesn't make sense," Izzy said.

"C'mon Izzy, we can think about it later. No harm no foul, right? Besides, we need to get going. I don't want to be late for dinner," Tai said.

"I just hope this ice melts soon. It's not supposed to snow in a tropical forest." Agumon said.

"But remember, this is the digital world. Anything can happen," Kari reminded us. "Besides, I think snow is pretty. It turns everything white. At least until cars drive over it."


	4. Flood Water

Chapter 4: Flood Water

Tai showed up in the middle of the game, yelling something about needing Kari's help. I guessed it was about the digital world, but we couldn't say anything because Will was there. Anyways, Kari had to go with him, and we were all getting tired. Cody had to get to his Ken-Do practice, Ken had to start his homework, and Yolei had to help her family at their store. That left Will and TK there with me. It didn't make much sense to play with only three people, so instead we began walking back to the school. TK and I said that we needed to get some books from our lockers, which Will was surprised to hear from me. Of course, we actually were going back to find our digimon. We were hoping to split up with Will on the way there, but he didn't have anything important to do and we couldn't think of a good way to get rid of him.

"So what books did you forget?" Will asked.

"Uh, heh. Just my math book. I gotta make sure I review the, uh, uh . . ."

"Distributive property," TK finished for me.

"Yeah, what he said," I breathed a huge sigh of relief. "But don't you have to be getting home? You've got to have a lot of homework."

"Actually, I did most of it before I met up with you guys earlier. I hardly have any left," Will said.

"How? We only waited five minutes for you!" I protested.

"I'm really good at math. I can help you if you like," Will offered.

"No, that's alright," I said as I arrived at my locker. "Okay, uh, what was I here for again?"

"To get your math book," TK reminded me.

"Oh, of course. The disturbitive property," I said.

"Distributive," They both corrected me at the same time.

I rummaged around in my locker, looking for my math book which I hadn't seen in weeks. I finally found it and shoved it into my pack. It barely fit with my soccer ball.

"Alright then, I guess we should get going now. Will, why don't you start and we'll catch up with you," I made one last feeble attempt to get away from him so that we could get our digimon, but it failed.

"No, I can wait. I've got nowhere that I have to be," Will said casually.

"Uh, yeah, okay, um . . ." I had no idea what to do. "Well, let's, uh . . ."

"Sorry Will, but we didn't really come here for books," TK said. I stared at him, wondering what he could be thinking that could get us out of this.

"I figured that. Davis doesn't seem like the type who would go back to school to get a book," Will and TK both laughed.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" I demanded.

"Calm down Davis. Anyways Will, we had some stuffed animals hidden in one of the classrooms. We came back for those and were a little embarrassed to tell you," TK said.

"Don't be. I've got a whole bunch of stuffed animals at my house. Some were gifts, others just look weird, but I collect stuffed snakes," He said with a grin.

"That's great Will," I said, looking at TK for some sign of how we were going to tell Demiveemon and Patamon to act like toys. He just winked at me.

We walked quickly toward the room, both TK and me hoping for the best. Then TK put his plan into action.

More to the door than to Will and rather loudly, he said, "This is the room Will. Our stuffed animals should be in here." He waited a few seconds before opening the door. I prayed.

As we walked into the room, it was completely silent. TK and Will walked in first, and I followed quickly. The two digimon were sitting on two of the desks, perfectly motionless. I let out a big sigh of relief. They had heard TK through the door and had the presence of mind to figure out what was happening.

"Those are some weird looking toys. What are they supposed to be?" Will asked.

"Just some weird monsters or something," TK said as he picked up Patamon and carefully slid him into his book bag. I then started to move toward Demiveemon, but Will picked him up first.

"Hm, seems pretty soft, probably not breakable. Hey Davis, catch!" Will yelled as he tossed Demiveemon at me.

"AH! NO!" I screamed. Luckily, Will had a fairly good arm, and I was able to catch him very easily. Amazingly, he didn't make a sound. "Are you nuts? What was that for? You could have hurt . . ."

"I could have hurt what? You? Davis it's a stuffed animal, what could it hurt?" Will asked. I was halfway between understanding his ignorance and tackling him in a fit of blind rage. Once again, TK came to the rescue.

"Davis is just a little sensitive about his stuff," TK explained.

"Oh, sorry man. I didn't mean any harm," Will said. He had a weird look on his face, almost confusion, but with a hint of curiosity. I knew I had made a mistake yelling out like I had. Of course, I wanted to protect Demiveemon, but in the process I had risked blowing our cover.

"That's okay, I guess," I managed to mumble. "Don't worry about it."

We were oddly silent as we walked out of the school. Will had a really weird look on his face. It wasn't confusion or surprise, but some kind of understanding; as if he thought he had learned something but had no proof of it. I was afraid that he thought Demiveemon was real. TK couldn't come up with anything to say either, so when we reached the corner where we had to separate, we said quick goodbyes and went in different directions. At least Will and TK did. I doubled back and caught up with TK as he walked.

"Man that was close," I said as I caught up with him.

"Yeah, it was. I thought Demiveemon would get hurt," TK said.

"He's fine though. Right now I'm more concerned that Will doesn't buy the stuffed animal story any more. It's one thing to explain Gatomon as a cat, but Demiveemon doesn't look like any animal out of our world. What if he calls animal control or something?" I asked.

"I don't think he'd go that far, but he might begin asking questions. For now, I think we should have our digimon stay at home, or in the digital world. If Will ever decides to pick one up and look at it closely, he might notice that they're breathing. We're lucky if he didn't notice that today," TK said.

"Yeah, we'd better have them stay there, at least for a little while." I agreed. "Should we get in touch with everyone else? It might be bad if Cody and Yolei and Ken show up with their digimon."

"Good point. I'll call them tonight and fill them in. I'll call Kari too and tell her to . . ."

"No don't do that!" I yelled quickly. TK gave me a funny look, and I had to scramble to think of a reason why he shouldn't. "Look, we'll, uh, just tell her at school tomorrow. Will already knows that Gatomon is alive and thinks that she's a normal cat. If Gatomon doesn't show up that could make him more suspicious."

"I'm not sure that makes sense," TK said.

"Of course it makes sense! If Gatomon disappears Will will be more suspicious than ever," I tried to explain.

"Well, alright. But we've got to get there early enough to explain this to her. We don't want Will to show up and hear what we're talking about," TK said.

"Right. I'll see ya tomorrow TK," I said as I turned to head back toward my apartment.

"See ya," he called as he walked away.

The next morning I couldn't get out the door as quickly as I had wanted to. I ran most of the way to school, trying as hard as I could to get there before Kari so that I could meet her at the door. I was too late though. When I walked in she and TK were talking next to TK's locker.

"Kari! I've got . . . something to . . . tell you," I gasped, tired out by the running.

"Don't worry Davis; TK already explained everything to me. I think it's a good idea for Gatomon to stay here too," Kari said.

"Really? I told you so TK," I said with a grin. I guess I showed him.

"Yeah. It wouldn't be a problem if I could just leave her at home, but Will is coming over to help me with my math after the soccer game today, so he'd probably wonder where she is," Kari said.

"WHAT?" My outburst temporarily caught the attention of some passing students.

"Don't worry Davis, you can come too. I know how much you need the help. TK and Yolei are going to come too," Kari said, giggling at my reaction.

"Oh, okay. But why couldn't Ken or Cody help?" I asked.

"Ken has to do some project at his school, and Cody has Ken-Do practice again," TK explained.

"Jeez, doesn't that kid have anything better to do?" I asked.

"The martial arts are very important to Cody. I think it's great that he's so dedicated to it," Kari said.

I temporarily entertained the thought of joining Cody, but the idea of discipline made me decide not to.

"We had better get going," TK said. "I don't want to be late for class."

"How can class be starting already?" I asked, surprised.

"Well, you were really late this morning, Davis." Kari said.

"Yeah, what happened to getting here early?" TK asked.

"Uh, ya see, it's kinda like . . ." but the bell sounded before I could finish. "Up, to late. Gotta run. See ya!" And with that I bolted toward class.

I was surprised when Kari grabbed my arm and pulled me aside after school got out, but she had a good reason.

"Joe and Izzy are here. There's a problem in the digital world. They're going to meet us in the computer lab. If you see Cody or Yolei, tell them. I already told TK. Be there in five minutes, okay?" she told me.

"Okay, but what's . . . huh?" I didn't get a chance to ask what was wrong because she bolted right after she told me, probably to get Gatomon. Not having any idea where Cody or Yolei were, I decided to just head to the lab. It was deserted except for Joe, who greeted me warmly.

"What's up Davis?" He said, smiling.

"You tell me. Kari sent me here because she said something's wrong," I replied.

"Well, it's not a really serious problem. I mean, it's serious, but it's mostly under control. It's not a problem with a digimon, just a dam," Joe explained.

"A dam? They have dams in the digital world?" I questioned.

"I was surprised to hear it too, but apparently there's one on File Island, and it's getting clogged up for some reason. We're going to see what's wrong and try to fix it," Joe smiled. "Don't worry too much, it probably won't take long."

Just then Kari, Izzy, and Cody walked in. "We couldn't find Yolei," Kari said. "It's weird; I didn't think she had anywhere to be."

"Maybe she's getting an early start to the game," I offered.

"Maybe," Kari said.

"It doesn't matter right now guys, we've got to get going," Izzy said. He and Cody were starting up the computer, and Cody used his D3 to open the digiport.

"Hey Kari, where's Gatomon?" I asked as we walked over to the computer.

"I didn't have time to run home. We'll be okay without her for now," She said right before she fell into the computer. I followed suit.

Veemon, Tentomon, Gomamon, and Armadillamon were waiting for us when we arrived.

"Hurry up everybody, I saw the problem," Gomamon told us.

"Well what is it?" Joe asked.

"Fish. There are tons of dead fish clogging up the dam," Gomamon said.

"Doesn't the dam have some kind of safety mechanism to prevent that?" Izzy asked.

"Well, yeah, of course. But there are so many fish that it couldn't handle them all. I've never seen so many dead fish!" Gomamon said as we arrived at the top of the dam.

"If we don't do something, the lake could flood. Or even worse, the buildup of water pressure could cause it to break!" Izzy said.

"So what are we going to do?" Cady asked.

"Simple," Joe began, "We clear away the fish. Ikkakumon and Submarimon should be able to out swim the dam's current and clear the fish away. They'll bring them up to the shore and the rest of us will clear the shore. Eventually we'll put all the dead fish in the sea so other fish or digimon can eat them."

"Good plan Joe. Tentomon, you can help by rounding up the rest of the digimon. We'll need all of their help to get the fish all the way to the sea." Izzy said.

"You guys, that'll take all day! I've got a soccer game to get to!" I protested.

"Well then just help until you have to leave, Davis. We really need every person we can get," Joe said.

"And besides," Gomamon said with a smirk, "You wouldn't want to leave Kari here to do all the work, right?"

"GOMAMON!" But he dove into the lake before I could catch him.

"Now that that's settled, let's get started," Cody said.

Armadillamon armor digivolve to…..:Submarimon!

Gomamon digivolve to…..:Ikkakumon!

The two champion level digimon dove underwater. They returned, dragging piles of fish up with them. Those of us who were on the shore began piling the fish away from the shore so that they wouldn't have to climb all the way out of the water to drop the fish. We worked at a good pace for almost an hour, until Izzy reminded me about soccer.

"Davis, you had better get going. You don't want to be late," he said.

"No, I don't want to leave you guys all here, I can miss the first half," I said.

"Don't worry Davis I'm going too. I don't want to miss the game," Kari said.

"You two have been a big help, but we'll be able to take it from here. Ikkakumon and Submarimon are almost done clearing out the fish. The water is already starting to flow again. We can manage from here," Joe said.

"Alright, thanks," I said. "Bye."

"Bye everyone!" Kari called out.

We walked back to the digiport and stepped through it. We landed hard on the floor on the other end, but we were used to that by now. What we weren't used to is being questioned upon our return.

"When did you two get here?" Will asked. He was sitting at a computer a few rows in front of the one we had come out of. "I saw this big flash of light and when I turned around you two are lying all over the floor."

"Well how did you get in here? We locked the door," I said.

"I snuck in a window. My home computer's not set up yet, so I had to use the school's. Why'd you guys lock the, oh wait, do I even want to know?" Will said as a weird look came across his face.

"Will it's nothing like that. We just didn't want to be bothered while we, uh, worked on this report," I said, thinking that I was safe.

"Then where have you been for the past half hour? I didn't see you when I snuck in, and there aren't very many good places to hide in here," Will asked.

"Well Will, we were, um . . ." Kari started, but couldn't think of anything either. We were caught in a real pickle. I did the only thing that could possibly work.

"Well why are you sneaking through a window into the lab? Tell me that," I said, hoping he wouldn't press the question.

"Like I said, I needed, oh forget it. I guess it doesn't matter," Will finally said. "Don't you have to get going to that soccer game Davis?"

"Yeah, I do. See ya later," I said as I headed for the door.

"Not that much later, I'll be at the game," Will said. "I just gotta finish something up on here."

"Okay, see ya there," I said.

"Bye Will," Kari said, and we both walked out the door.


	5. Stuffed Animals

Chapter 5: Stuffed Animals

Kari finally came by to pick me up almost an hour later than she'd promised. She explained about the dam and about running in to Will in the computer lab, so I understood just fine.

"That Will kid keeps popping up in weird places," I said. "Do you think he knows something?"

"I don't think so Gatomon," Kari assured me. "He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. That's all."

"If you say so. Do you think I should stay at the house, just in case?" I asked.

"He'll see you again later anyways. I don't see why it matters," Kari said. I don't know why, but she always seems to take the lighter side of things. Maybe it has to do with her crest or something, but she never seems to think that anything can really be bad. She would feel sorry for Myotismon if he got a paper cut.

""Gatomon, are you hungry? We should probably stop and get something to eat before we go to the field." Kari said.

"Yeah, that'd be great," I said with a smile. It was harder to talk while walking on four legs, but I had to so that people wouldn't notice me as much. I had actually eaten some fish that I found in the refrigerator a few minutes before Kari showed up, but I was still pretty hungry.

By the time we arrived at the field, everyone else was already there, at least everyone who was going to show up. Ken and Davis were both down on the field warming up. Yolei, TK, and Will were sitting in the bleachers near the back. Will had a whole bunch of stuffed animals wrapped around him.

"Hey Kari, how've you been?" TK called out.

"Great," Kari yelled back. "I just stopped to get something to eat, that's why I'm a little late." She sat down next to Yolei on the right end of the bleachers. TK was sitting on Yolei's left, and Will sat just beyond him.

"Will was just showing us some stuffed snakes that he brought," TK chuckled and winked at Kari. Will had two long, rather colorful toy snakes around his neck, and in his lap he held a shorter but fatter white one. The only problem was that it wasn't a toy snake. I almost jumped up when I realized that it was a Dremon, an in training digimon.

Will was giving me a funny look, probably because I was staring at the 'toy'. "Kari, I think something's wrong with your cat," he said.

"Huh? Gatomon what are you doing?" She laughed as she picked me up. I jumped out of her hands and bolted up to the top row of bleachers, hoping that she'd follow me.

"She's acting kinda funny," TK observed.

"I'll be right back," Kari said as she walked up toward me. When we were safely out of earshot, and I was turned around so that Will wouldn't see my mouth moving, Kari asked, "What's wrong Gatomon, why'd you run up here?"

"I needed to tell you this. The little white thing isn't a toy, it's a digimon called Dremon.

Kari laughed a little. "Gatomon that's silly. If Will knew about digimon he would've been able to figure out everything already."

"Kari, I know what a Dremon looks like! I'm completely serious here," I argued.

"Gatomon that just doesn't make any sense. Will has no idea what digimon are, except maybe from the news reports from a few years ago. But if he really had a digimon, he would understand that we have them too, and he clearly doesn't. It probably just looks a lot like a Dremon, but there's no way it could be."

"But Kari I . . ." I tried to think of some way I could prove it to her, but the fact that Will hadn't come forward and said that he knew about digimon was puzzling. "I'm sure that that's a digimon. I'd know as well as anyone!"

"You're probably just tired Gatomon. Maybe you didn't sleep well last night," Kari suggested.

"Kari, I know that that thing is a digimon," I continued to protest.

"Okay, we'll talk about it with Davis and the others later. For now can you not make a big deal about it?" Kari asked. She still didn't believe me.

"Fine," I said, shaking my head. We wandered back over to the group. The game was about to start.

I don't really care very much about human sports. Kari seems to enjoy watching her friends play them, so I usually humor her. But today I couldn't take my eyes off of the Dremon. I just stared at it, looking for any signs of life, but I was surprised. It remained perfectly still, not even blinking, unless Will picked it up. It even let its head limply lay sideways when Will set it down on the bleacher. It was so lifeless that I almost was convinced that it was fake. Almost.

"And now, half time," Will announced as the teams reached the mid-game break. "How long does this usually last?"

"Not long," TK said. "Don't bother running home for something, you won't be back in time."

"Why do you carry around that guitar?" Yolei asked Will.

"So that I can hit people over the head with it," Will replied with a sarcastic smile. "I learned how to play a year ago, and also how to sing."

"Wow," TK said. "My brother has a band. How good are you?"

"I'm okay. I've still got some stuff to learn, but I've memorized quite a few songs," Will said.

"Could you play one for us?" Kari asked.

"I'd normally love to, but I don't know how to sing them in Japanese. The rhymes and meter would be all messed up and it wouldn't sound good," Will explained.

"That's okay, play one anyways," Kari said. "I don't care if we can't understand it."

"Alright, if you insist," Will said as he pulled his guitar out of its case. He adjusted the strings a little, then cleared his throat and began.

_Deep inside of a parallel universe  
It's getting harder and harder To tell what came first_

Under water where thoughts can breathe Easily  
Far away you were made in a sea Just like me

Christ I'm a sidewinder I'm a California King  
I swear it's everywhere It's everything

Staring straight up into the sky   
Oh my my, a solar system that fits In your eye, Microcosm

You could die but your never dead spider web  
Take a look at the stars in Your head, fields of space kid

Christ I'm a sidewinder I'm a California King  
I swear it's everywhere It's everything

_Christ I'm a sidewinder I'm a California King  
I swear it's everywhere It's everything_

Psychic changes are born in your heart, Entertain  
A nervous breakthrough that makes us the same   
Bless your heart girl

Kill the pressure it's raining on Salty Cheeks  
When you hear the beloved song, I am with you 

Christ I'm a sidewinder I'm a California King  
I swear it's everywhere It's everything

_Christ I'm a sidewinder I'm a California King  
I swear it's everywhere It's everything_

"Wow Will, that was really good," Kari said.

"I just wish I could understand the words," TK commented.

"I guess I could translate them for you right now if you wanted," Will said. "But I'm not sure a translation would do the song justice."

"What do you mean?" Yolei asked.

"Well, it's kinda like reading a translation of the Odyssey. You'll get the story and the main points, but the poetry is lost because of the change in language. A translation of a poem or song never really does justice to the song. But I'm even more afraid of translating this. The Red Hot Chili Peppers use a lot of symbolism, and if I translated it literally I'm not sure it would make any sense at all," Will explained.

"Well, I suppose we could get by if you'd explain it to us," TK said.

"Or we could just learn English," Kari suggested.

"I'm not sure that's a good route. It's supposed to be the hardest language to learn, not to mention that you'd be at an even greater disadvantage because you've never used that alphabet," Will said.

"Then how did you learn Japanese?" Yolei asked.

"Since my dad started me at such an early age, it made no difference to me because neither language was really ingrained in my head yet," Will replied.

"I think I'd like to try anyways," Kari said. I gave her a funny look. I've learned differently since then, but at the time I didn't see any value in using another language. In the digital world digimon don't really use language, they think ideas and translation programs make their human partners hear in their language. I didn't know that until Izzy did some of his most advanced research on it.

"I'm not really a teacher, but I guess I could help if you signed up for a class or something," Will offered.

"That would be great," Kari replied. I rolled my eyes.

"Hey you guys, the game's starting again," TK said. We all turned our attention toward the field. I looked toward the Dremon. Will picked it up and turned its head so that it faced the field. This was proof enough for me, but I kept watching anyways. It was remarkably good at staying motionless.

Then I noticed that Will was staring at me. He had a strange smile on his face, and was unconsciously nodding his head slightly. I had a sudden feeling that he had figured me out also. Most humans can't maintain the focus that I was on the stuffed animal, much less a common house cat. I looked toward him, and he matched my gaze.

"Gatomon, huh?" he said in a whisper. I looked at the humans. None of them had heard, they were too preoccupied with cheering for Davis and Ken (despite their being on opposite teams). Only my keen ears had heard him. I returned my gaze to his face. He now wore a strange smirk. He knew. I know he did.

"Great game, huh Kari?" Davis said as we walked home. The obvious answer was no. Ken's team had won by a large margin.

"Yeah, I thought you almost had them beat at one point," Kari laughed.

"That playbook that Ken made is really advanced," TK said. "It would be hard for any team to beat it. Why don't you give it to a professional team Ken?"

"I don't think they'd have that much use for it. The game changes as it gets to higher levels. Tricks that work in this league might not work at for the pros," Ken replied.

"You never know. People have thought poorly of a lot of things that ended up working in the past," Will commented.

They continued chattering about games and ideas and plans that had or hadn't worked all the way home. I had to remain silent, of course, because Will was there and after discussing what I had seen with Davis, TK, Ken, and Yolei, Kari still believed that Will had no idea what was going on. I had a plan for proving my case though. Will would most likely have his digivice in his back pack. After all of the humans were engrossed in studying, I could snoop around in it and once I found it, there was no denying that Dremon was his digimon and not his stuffed animal. But great plans never seem to work for me.

"Hey, I've got mail," Kari said, pulling out her D-terminal.

"What's that thing?" Will asked. I could understand him not knowing about D-terminals. He probably didn't have a D3.

"It's kinda like a mini-computer slash phone," TK said. "Kari gets email all the time."

Kari's expression changed quickly as she read the email. "Uh, guys, I think we're going to have to cancel the study session for tonight," she said, sounding worried.

"What's wrong Kari?" Ken asked. She gave him a look that meant more than words could have said, even if she could have said them. "Oh, in that case I'd better get home," Ken said.

"Yeah, me too," TK said.

"Well, then I'll see if I can find, er," Yolei caught herself just before she said something, "no wait. I've gotta go home too." Davis followed suit, and everyone split.

Will looked around, apparently rather confused. He kept walking with Kari and me.

"What exactly just happened?" Will asked.

"Nothing Will. There's a family problem that I have to take care of," Kari replied, quickening her pace.

"Oh, well I hope nobody's hurt," Will said, but there wasn't concern in his voice, instead there seemed to be comprehension.

"No, nothing like that. I've just got to get home right away," Kari said. "Sorry, but we'll have to get everyone together next week."

"Alright. See ya around," Will said as he turned around.

"Bye!" Kari called after him quickly before breaking into a sprint toward home.

"Kari what's going on?" I asked as soon as we couldn't see Will any more.

"The email was from Matt. Gobumon and the others are in trouble," Kari said.

"Well let's hurry then!" I said. I forgot about Will for now. That problem could wait.


	6. Skullhydramon

Chapter 6: Skullhydramon

I had to find TK so that he could open the digiport for me, since only the D3s could. Gobumon's email had been only four words long, 'Please help us, Matt.' This was very uncharacteristic of him, which meant that we had to get to the digital world even faster than before. I forwarded the message to Kari, Izzy, Joe and Sora, hoping that they would all be able to help. I knew that this time we would be in serious danger.

I arrived at TK's apartment just as he did, and we both rushed in.

"So what's the problem, Matt?" TK asked, sounding very worried.

"I got an email from Gobumon. They're in some kind of trouble, although he didn't say just what. It seemed like he didn't have time to," I explained quickly. "We've gotta get there, they're almost powerless without us."

"Right," TK said as he opened the portal. We both jumped through.

We found ourselves on File Island, deep inside one of the forests. From a little ways away we suddenly heard a scream, and high above the trees we could see two massive digimon flying, though they were too far away to make out.

"That's gotta be them," I said. "Let's go!" But just then, Kari, Gatomon, and Tai appeared out of the digiport. Seconds later, Ken did as well.

"Matt what's going on?" Tai questioned.

"I'll explain on the way, but now we've gotta move." I yelled as I took off running. Tai and Ken quickly caught up, being strong runners because of their soccer, but Kari and TK weren't as fast, and I was afraid we might be too late. At this point every second counted. "TK, Kari, we're going ahead. Hurry up as much as you can!" I called back to them.

"Alright Matt!" TK yelled. Just then we broke out of the forest into a large grassy field. Far off in the distance, we could see the two flying forms, but much more clearly.

"What are they?" Tai asked.

"Metalkuwagamon." Ken said. "They're ultimate level, and they're shells are incredibly hard. Paildramon was barely able to beat one before.

"Unfortunately we haven't seen Davis around yet and there's two of them Tai observed. "We need a new plan." We were finally in sight of what they were chasing, and sure enough it was our digimon. Their attacks were useless, so they were doing their best to avoid the enormous bugs.

"Gobumon!" I yelled as soon as I thought he could hear me, and he did.

Gobumon digivolve to…..:Garurumon!

Agumon digivolve to…..:Greymon!

Wormmon digivolve to...:Stingmon!

"We'll hold them off, get to safety!" Greymon yelled to the others. Gatomon was the only one not present in the group of digimon, because she was with Kari, but the separation wouldn't last any longer. Kari, TK and Gatomon finally caught up with us.

"Kari, TK!" Tai yelled, "You've got to try and stop at least one of them." The three champion levels were doing their best, but they couldn't compete with two ultimates at once.

"Patamon!" TK called out.

"I'm right here TK!" He called out.

Gatomon armor digivolve to…..:Nefertimon!

Patamon armor digivolve to…..:Pegasusmon!

The two new digimon wrapped their golden noose around one of the Metalkuwagamon, temporarily restraining it and letting everyone focus on one at a time. Despite this, they still were unable to fight off the ultimate level digimon. Garurumon took a direct hit and digivolved back to Gobumon, and then Pegasusmon did as well.

"Patamon!" TK yelled as he ran over to his friend. "Patamon, are you okay."

"I'm fine TK, but look out!" Patamon yelled. The second Metalkuwagamon had freed itself and was heading straight for them.

"Vee Laser!" announced someone on the other side of the battle. The blast blindsided the Metalkuwagamon and knocked it off course, barely missing TK and Patamon. Davis and Exveemon had made it just in time.

"Ken! Let's do it!" Davis yelled across to our group.

Exveemon, Stingmon, DNA digivolve to...:Paildramon!

The Metalkuwagamon both turned their attention to Paildramon. His powerful attack managed to knock one of them down, but the other hit him hard from the side. As the first one stood, Nefertimon and Greymon both attacked it. It was far too strong, however, and it caught Greymon in its pinchers. Paildramon managed to knock him loose, but was hit again by the other insect.

"Yolei must have gone to find Cody," Kari said. "If she could get here we'd be able to help more. I wish she would've just come." Kari was watching the battle with a worried look on her face. Nefertimon landed and returned to being Gatomon.

"She better get here soon or else we're in big trouble," Gatomon said.

"Tai!" I yelled to him, "We're not strong enough to take them both on! We have to get out of here!"

"You're right Matt," Tai said as he watched Greymon revert to Agumon.

"Davis! Ken! Have Paildramon hold them off as long as possible. We'll lead everyone else to safety!" Tai yelled.

"Good idea, but hurry up. I'm not sure how much longer we can last!" Ken yelled back.

"Everybody, let's move!" Tai yelled out.

We turned to run for the forest, which would provide some cover as we looked for the digiport, but Tai stopped short.

"Oh no, what's that thing?" He said, staring at the sky. From over the forest, another massive creature was flying toward us. The beast seemed like an enormous skeletal dragon. The oddest thing about it was hat it had five heads, all mounted on long necks that extended from the bones just above where the wings sprouted from its back.

"Skullhydramon," Gatomon said. "It's an ultimate level digimon. It's very dangerous, and usually aggressive. We've got to hide somewhere!"

"Where are we supposed to hide? We're in the middle of a field and that thing has five heads!" TK said.

"All you humans run!" Gatomon said. "We'll try to distract it."

"Gatomon no you . . ." Kari started, but Gatomon cut her off.

"Just go Kari! Now!"

Tai grabbed Kari's arm and started to drag her away as Gatomon braced herself for a fight. But she didn't get one. The monster flew right past her and past us, toward the battle. It rushed at one of the Metalkuwagamon from behind and tackled it to the ground. Three of the mouths pinned it down while the other two began head butting and biting at the trapped creature. The other Metalkuwagamon attacked and knocked Skullhydramon off of its friend, but that allowed Paildramon to blast both of them at once. As the two insects tried to shield themselves from the attack, Skullhydramon righted itself and began its own attack. The five head formed into a pentagon and began charging up balls of energy. The orbs suddenly connected and an eerie purple light filled in the middle, making a pentagon-shaped wall about ten feet high.

"Dark Dimension." The beast announced as it launched the pentagon at the Metalkuwagamon. It struck one of them in the side of the head and sent it tumbling to the ground, knocked out. The other, now double teamed, fled quickly over the field. In seconds it was over.

We cautiously approached the creature that had apparently saved us. All five of its heads turned to look at us, and Paildramon quickly stepped in front of us. But the Skullhydramon didn't seem to want to attack us. It actually seemed to be tired. We all jumped when it began to glow, and then shrink. It was reverting to a previous digivolution. Some kind of small white worm-like thingy.

"It's Dremon!" Gatomon said. "It returned all the way back to its in-training stage."

"Well if it reverted back then it's safe to assume that there's a digivice around here somewhere, and also another human," I said.

"Wait a second," TK said. "Kari, could that be . . ."

"Told ya so," Gatomon said with a smirk.

"Do you think it's really Will's?" Kari asked.

"Who's Will?" Tai asked.

"He's a new kid at our school, he moved to Tokyo from America," Kari explained.

The Dremon was staring at us with a sorry look on it's face. I think for some reason it didn't want us to figure that out.

"So Dremon," Tai started. "Is Will anywhere around here?"

The little digimon didn't answer; it just looked around at the rest of the field. Ken was the first to see him coming.

"Look over there," He said, indicating the forest that Skullhydramon had come from. Sure enough, there was a figure walking in our direction. As the figure approached, Kari identified him.

"Yeah, that's Will alright."

The kid walked past us a little to his digimon and picked it up in his arms. "Silly little guy, you were supposed to fly back to the forest," he said, but not angrily, instead in a soft, soothing tone.

"I know, I'm sorry. I was just too tired. I haven't digivolved in a long time," The Dremon replied.

"That's alright," Will said as he stroked the digimon's head. "It doesn't matter any more." He then turned to us. "I suppose I owe you all an explanation."

"Not really. You couldn't have known we were digidestined too," Tai said.

"Actually, I was suspicious at first, and when Davis and Kari fell out of a computer I knew," Will said.

"Do you have a D3, too?" TK asked.

"A what?"

"I guess not then," TK said.

"Then how did you get to the digital world?" I asked. If he couldn't open a digiport himself, it was rather unlikely that he stumble upon a random one.

"After Kari got that email and everyone split up, I, well, sorta followed her home. I knew she was going to the digital world, and I thought I'd come and try to help. I snuck in an open window."

"You sneak through an awful lot of windows, Will," Davis commented.

"It's a bad habit," Will replied. "Anyways, I'm sorry I tailed you, but I haven't been to the digital world in a while, and I wanted to go back. Also, I thought I could lend a hand if there was trouble."

"So you were with a group from America then?" I asked him.

"Yeah, and I think you met one of them already. Michael and Betamon. I was talking with him the other day and he mentioned you guys.

"But if you knew that we were digidestined, why did you hide the fact that you are from us?" Davis asked.

"That does seem a little weird," Kari added.

"I just wanted to learn a little more about you guys before I said anything. Mostly I was trying to figure out your crests," Will replied.

"Why would that matter?" Ken asked.

"There are, well, I guess," Will looked very unsure of himself at the moment. "It's complicated."

"Well what is your crest?" Davis asked.

Tai added an observation. "Actually, do you still have your crest? Skullhydramon is an ultimate digimon."

"Yes, I do still have my crest, but it's, uh," Will's eyes were bolting, and it was obvious that he didn't want to tell us for some reason. "It's, um, helpfulness."

I figured he was lying, but I kept it to myself. Maybe his crest was love and he was embarrassed by it. I wasn't going to burn him on it. I resolved to have Mimi track down Michael and ask him.

"There's a crest for helpfulness?" Davis wondered. "I wonder what else there could be."

"Well what's yours?" Will asked.

"Mine is courage, and so is Tai's," Davis replied. "Matt has friendship, Ken has kindness, TK has hope and Kari has light. I bet those sound a bit funny too, huh? But none of us have our crests or tags."

Will was silent. He had a scared look on his face, and he was staring at Kari and TK.

"What's the matter man, you look like you just saw a ghost?" I asked him. He didn't reply. He just kept staring.

"Hey Will are you alright?" Tai asked.

"I have to go," Will said suddenly. "It was nice to meet you," he said to me and Tai, and then he took off running for the forest, carrying Dremon in his arms.

"Should we follow him?" Gatomon asked.

"I don't know. Why do you think he started acting so funny?" Tai said.

"Let him go. I'll ask him about it at school tomorrow," Kari said. "Besides, we need to be heading home. Our parents might get worried."


	7. The Coming Darkness

Chapter 7: The Coming Darkness

TK didn't stop by my apartment on the way to school. Instead, Matt walked by. He told me that TK was sick and that he wouldn't be in school. To be honest, I didn't feel very good either, but I didn't want to worry my mother. Ever since I had to go to the hospital as a little girl she gets really worried whenever I get sick.

"So what do you think is up with that kid?" Matt asked as we walked along.

"I don't know, but I've got some classes with him, so I'll talk to him today," I replied. I didn't have any idea what could be wrong, but I know that it's wrong to judge people. I couldn't tell Matt that I thought he might have a serious problem.

"Well I'm going to call Mimi and see if she can get us in touch with that Michael kid. He'll probably know what's wrong," Matt said.

"Do you really think we should be snooping? I mean, if Will doesn't want to tell us, he must have a good reason," I argued.

"Just like he has a good reason for not telling you that he is a digidestined, right?" Matt had me there; Will had faulted on that question too. He had seemed like a really nice kid, but now all of the unanswered questions were making me nervous. The weirdest thing was that he would lie about what his crest was. I'm not sure if anybody else noticed, or if they had weather or not they thought it important, but Will's body language and voice were tell tale signs that he had made up the crest of 'helpfulness' on the spot.

"Maybe he'll be in a better mind today. He was probably scared because of all the questions," I said.

"Maybe," Matt said, not really believing it. "I've got to get going. Rehearsal. See you later Kari."

"Bye Matt," I called out as he walked away. I got the feeling that he didn't believe Will about the crest of helpfulness either. I tried not to think about why Will would lie to us as I walked the rest of the way to school. In my mind, it wasn't really worth thinking about. He was a digidestined, and he certainly seemed like a good person. There had to be a reason why he didn't want to tell us.

I saw Will as I walked into the classroom. He was seated at his desk, staring at a page of notes. His hooded sweater had been replaced by a backwards baseball cap and a black T-shirt that said something in English on it, but since I didn't know English then I couldn't read it.

"Hey Will," I said as I sat down at my desk and looked across TK's empty chair toward him.

"Hey," he replied without looking up.

"Whatcha studying?" I didn't want to annoy him with all of the questions I had about the previous day.

"Math," came another quick reply, still not looking up.

"Will, uh, is this a bad time or something?" I asked, feeling that he didn't want to talk.

He closed his eyes for a few seconds, and then finally looked over at me. "Sorry, I just have a lot on my mind right now."

"Oh, okay. Maybe I can talk to you later today, or on Monday?" I asked, trying to sound cheerful despite the fact that he seemed to be intentionally ignoring me.

"I won't be here on Monday," Will said simply, returning to his notes.

"Is your family going on vacation?" I asked.

"I'm transferring to a different school."

If he had said that to get me to stop asking questions, it certainly worked. My first thought was that we must have offended him in some way. There had to be some kind of weird American custom that we had accidentally violated or made fun of, although I couldn't imagine what it could be, and now he hated us for it. But as I thought on that idea all through class, it made less and less sense. He had started acting funny when Davis had asked what his crest was. That couldn't be what offended him, because he had wanted to know ours also. Was it one of our crests? He had stared for a long time at TK and me after he heard about our crests. Perhaps he had some kind of problem with them. But that wouldn't make any sense either. Why would light and hope offend him?

I made an effort to track him down during lunch. I explained what had happened the previous day to Cody and Yolei, and then searched for him. He was at a table across the lunch room with three other kids, but he wasn't talking to them, and they pretty much left him alone. I sat down next to him, but he didn't seem to notice. He had his eyes closed, and was swirling his spoon around in his milk.

"Hey Will," I said as cheerfully as possible. He jumped up, startled, but sat back down again. He pulled the spoon out of his milk and set it down.

"Hi, Kari," he said unenthusiastically.

"Will, are you alright? You seem like you've got something on your mind." I said.

"I'm fine Kari; don't worry about it, alright." Will said.

"Well did I say something that made you mad? Or did TK? Or anybody? You can't be mad at me for no reason," I said.

"I'm not mad, I just need to leave. It's complicated," Will said. "Just please let me be right now."

"But if something's bothering you it's much better if you talk about it," I said.

"I'd rather not," Will said simply.

Will, I just . . . Will?" He stood up and walked away. I knew that something really must have been wrong, because nobody could change this much in one day. Something really weird was going on, and I was going to find out what.

But that proved to be much more difficult than I thought. I searched the school after classes ended, but I could find no sign of Will. Davis and Yolei hadn't seen him either. I found Cody and Izzy working in the computer lab, but they said that they hadn't seen him. It seemed almost like he had disappeared. I wandered outside and sat down on a bench, staring up at the sky. I really wanted to help him, but I couldn't if I didn't know where he was. Then I saw something on the roof of the building. It was a kid's figure, and it seemed to be leaning against the wall of the stairwell that led to the roof. The figure was so still that it almost seemed asleep, but occasionally it shifted positions just slightly.

I walked up the stairs as high as I could go, but the door to the roof was locked. Will had to of gotten up there somehow, but he couldn't have gone through a door. I thought for a moment, and then it suddenly came to me, a window. He must have climbed out and up to the roof from somewhere. I looked around outside a few windows, but I didn't find anything until I reached the end of the hallway. A pipe sitting easily within reach of the window led up to the roof. I looked down at the ground, three stories below me, and then at the pipe. It couldn't really be that hard to climb up it, and there was nobody around on the ground to see me. I climbed out onto the sill and held onto the pipe with my hands. I then stepped up onto a joint in the pipe, and pulled myself upwards. From here, I was able to get my hands onto the edge of the roof, but there were no more joints in the pipe for me to step up onto. I held on tight to the roof and thought about how I should go about getting the rest of the way up, but then my foot slipped off of the joint. I let out a small scream, but my arms managed to hang on to the building. I tried to get my foot back onto the joint, but I couldn't pull myself up high enough. The window sill was just a few feet below, but it wasn't big enough to land on. I desperately searched the ground below for someone to help me, but there was nobody. Directly below me was nothing but the concrete, and I wasn't strong enough to pull myself up from here.

"Kari!" I looked up to see Will standing on the roof above me. "Hang on, just a sec," he said as he knelt down. He grabbed one of my wrists with both hands and started to pull me up onto the roof. "C'mon, just a bit farther," he said as he strained to lift me. As soon as I could I fell forward, laying my upper body on the roof safely. Will helped to pull me the rest of the way up.

"What on God's green earth were you doing?" Will asked.

"I saw you on the roof, so I decided to come find you. But I found out the hard way that I don't know how to climb up pipes," I explained. "Thanks for saving me."

"Why would you even bother? You could've gotten hurt, or worse, killed! What possessed you to come up here after me?" Will asked, sounding angry.

"Will, I just wanted to be a friend. You've obviously got something wrong, and I want to help. That's what friends do," I tried to explain.

Will was quiet for a few minutes as he leaned against the stairwell again. He looked like he was still mad, but when he opened his eyes they seemed sad rather than angry.

"It's my crest." Will said simply.

"What about it?" I asked.

"It's not actually helpfulness, but you probably guessed that, didn't you?" He said.

"Well, it did sound kinda funny at the time," I admitted.

He was quiet again, almost as if he was considering taking back what he'd just said. He still didn't want to tell me. Then, he reached into his shirt and pulled out a tag and crest which hung around his neck. The crest was jet black, and two silver curves made the shape of a crescent moon. I started to sense a strange energy coming from it.

"It's darkness," he said.

"What's darkness?" I asked, missing the point.

"My crest is darkness. It's the crest of darkness," Will explained. There was a long silence, in which he seemed intent on waiting for a response which he thought he knew was coming. My first reaction was to think it might be a joke, but Will was deadly serious. I thought for a long time about what it could mean. The crests were supposed to represent a person's strongest attributes. How could a person's strongest attribute be darkness? That didn't seem to make sense. All the other crests were positive traits, and darkness clearly was not. I almost couldn't think of anything to say.

I finally came to the conclusion that there had to be a good reason for someone who seemed as nice as Will to have a crest like that. More importantly, I didn't want him to leave. "Well, what's the problem with it?" I asked finally.

Will looked at me, somewhat surprised. "That's not the reaction I got last time somebody found out," He commented.

"See, you don't have to leave Will. We can e your friends no matter what your crest is," I said happily.

"It's still not that simple, Kari. I want to be your friend, but at the same time, I can't. It would cause problems," he said.

"What kind of problems?" I asked, not understanding.

"I don't know exactly, but it will. Please don't bother me with this again, okay?" Will said.

It was then that I got a really good idea in my head. I would take Will to the digital world and show him that we could be friends. I could tell him about all of our adventures and how we were always there for each other. No little problems were worth wasting a perfectly good friendship.

"How do I get down from here?" I asked, hoping that he would stay long enough for me to put this plan into action.

"The door in the stairwell will open from this side," Will said.

"Thanks," I said as I bolted down into the stairwell. I blocked the door with my backpack and ran to the computer lab.

"Hey Kari! Matt and Tai are going to talk to Mimi in a few minutes," Izzy said as I ran in.

"Hi Kari," Yolei said. She had apparently arrived in the last few minutes. "I heard about yesterday. Have you talked to Will?"

"Yes," I said quickly. "Izzy I need to borrow your laptop."

"Go ahead Kari, but can I ask why?" Izzy said.

"Just gotta do something with it," I replied as I ran out back toward the roof.

"Kari wait a sec, what's going on?" Izzy called after me, but I was already to far gone. I thought I heard someone chasing me down the hall, but I wasn't sure. I raced back to the stairwell while starting up the laptop. I got into the program Izzy had created so that our D3s could open digiports on any computer, and it was ready just as I got back to Will.

"Kari? What are you doing here again?" Will asked.

"I want to show you some stuff," I said as my D3 opened the digiport.

"Kari what are you talking . . ." but he didn't have time to say anything. I grabbed his arm and fell into the computer, dragging him with me.


	8. Defective Arrows of Hope and Light

Chapter 8: Defective Arrows of Hope and Light

"Izzy? What are you looking at?" I asked, looking over from my schoolwork at his computer.

"Mimi was able to find Michael for us, and we're going to talk to him about Will. Surely he knows something about why Will was acting so strangely." Izzy explained.

"Hi everyone!" Yolei yelled as she walked in.

"There's only two of us here Yolei, there's no need to yell," I said, holding my ears.

"I'm sorry Cody, I'm just really excited. My mom said that she might give me a promotion! So, what are you two up to?" Yolei asked.

"We're about to talk to Michael about Will. Is someone running out there?" Izzy said. I heard it too, and seconds after we turned Kari rushed in the door.

"Hey Kari! Matt and Tai are going to talk to Mimi in a few minutes," Izzy said as Kari ran into the lab.

"Hi Kari," Yolei said. "I heard about yesterday. Have you talked to Will?"

"Yes," Kari said quickly. "Izzy I need to borrow your laptop."

"Go ahead Kari, but can I ask why?" Izzy said.

"Just gotta do something with it," she replied as she ran out of the room.

"Kari wait a sec, what's going on?" Izzy called after her. He got up to chase her "That's a computer, not a toy, don't run with it!" He said as he chased her out of the room. Yolei and I quickly followed.

We chased her down the hall to the stairwell, where she rushed up toward the roof. Izzy barely managed to catch the door as it tried to close behind her. We followed her up to the roof, but as we opened the door we only had time to see Will and Kari get dragged into the computer screen.

Izzy walked over to the laptop, which now simply sat on the ground running the digiport program.

"What on earth was she thinking? If they wanted to go to the digital world, they should have just come to the computer lab." Izzy said, staring at the screen as the port clicked shut.

"That doesn't make a whole lot of sense, does it?" I remarked.

"Certainly not," Izzy replied. "I wanted to talk with Michael, but now I think it's imperative that we follow them."

"I'll go back to the lab and grab our digimon," I offered. Since Will had found out, there was no point in leaving them in the digital world for his sake. I ran back to the computer room and snatched up Yolei's and my bag. When I got back, they were ready to go.

"Alright, let's hurry already!" Yolei said as I let both our digimon out of the back packs. But then I heard a squeak that didn't come from them. Looking back over to the stairwell, I saw Will's bag. I ran over and opened it, and found Dremon inside. I hadn't seen him yet, and he hadn't seen me, so he immediately went slack and pretended to be a doll, but I picked him up anyways.

"C'mon, we're going to the digital world to find Will and Kari." I said. He immediately stopped acting.

"Are you Cody then?" He asked in a squeaky voice.

"Yes."

"Hurry up, let's go, the port is open," Izzy said. We all jumped through.

We found ourselves once again deep in a forest, and I was no longer holding Dremon. He had digivolved while going through the digiport, as our digimon had. He was now about six feet long, and ark blue. His head had become more defined from his body, and two long fangs stuck out of his mouth, making him appear like a snake.

"Where do you think they went?" Yolei asked.

"I don't know, Yolei. We'll just have to start looking," Izzy replied, and we set off in a random direction.

"You were Dremon before, right?" I asked Will's digimon.

"I was, but now I'm Drakemon," he said in a more normal voice as he slithered next to me.

"Shh, I think I hear something," Izzy said. We were all still. There were two voices talking nearby, and getting louder as they approached.

"Kari! Will!" Izzy called out in the direction of the voice.

"Izzy! Is that you?" A very raspy voice called back.

"Yes, we're over here," Izzy yelled, and we could here someone running towards us, but instead of Kari and Will, TK and Patamon emerged from the bushes.

"Hi guys, what's up?" TK said in a very raspy voice.

"I thought you were sick," Yolei said.

"I am," TK replied hoarsely. "Can't you tell?"

"Then why are you here?" I asked.

"Because of that," TK said as he pointed to the sky. Floating in the sky high above the trees and probably a quarter mile away was a large black egg, which seemed to be pulsing. "Ken said he saw something weird in the sky of the digital world in an email. I came with Patamon to have a look. Ken said that it was roaming randomly earlier today, but right now I think it's following something. I was headed towards it just now." Yolei and I quickly checked our D-terminals. We both had received emails from Ken as well, but hadn't checked them.

"Is Ken here?" I asked.

"I don't think so, but he could be," TK said.

"Guys, I think we should start out after that egg. We can search for Will and Kari later, but this thing could be trouble," Izzy said.

"I've never seen anything like it," Patamon said.

"Don't worry everybody, I'm sure we can handle it," Armadillamon said.

"Alright, let's go then," Yolei said. We all started off quickly after the egg.

"TK, are you sure you're feeling good enough for this. If you want, you can stay here and rest," I offered, noticing that he still wasn't feeling good as we walked.

"Don't worry Cody, I'll be fine. It's not much further," TK replied.

"Everyone look! It's Kari!" Izzy said as we approached the spot over which the egg was hovering. "And Will too!"

Kari and Will were standing on opposite sides of a small grove, apparently talking, but as we got closer Will appeared very upset. The egg seemed to be hovering high above him.

"You have no idea what's going on! Couldn't you have just left well enough alone?" Will screamed across the clearing.

"Will I told you already I . . ." Kari tried to say kindly as she took a step toward him.

"Stop! Don't get any closer Kari. This is really serious. It's not about friendship any more, if we don't get out of here this could be disastrous," Will screamed. He was red in the face and breathing heavily.

"What's going on here?" Izzy asked as he stepped into the clearing.

"Izzy, this is Will," Kari said. "He's really upset; can you try to talk some sense into him?"

Izzy looked over at Will, and then walked over to him as the rest of us stepped out of the bushes.

"Hi Will, I'm Izzy," He began.

"Great, but can we talk later. Right now we've got to get out of . . . Oh no, he's here too?" Will said, and then let out what I later found out was a curse word in English. In retrospect, I realize that he was talking about TK and not me.

"Calm down Will, there's no reason to be so upset. Just try to . . ." Izzy was cut off again by Will.

"Look, I'll explain everything later, I promise, but right now we've got to get out of the digital world," Will said again.

"Will, c'mon, you can tell us," TK said as he started to walk over.

"Stop! Don't come over here. If you do, bad things will happen," Will said.

"Bad things? Like what?" TK asked.

"I don't know exactly, that depends on a few factors, but if we can just go back to the real world, I'll explain it, really, I will,"

"Alright, that seems reasonable," Izzy said, and he offered Will his hand. "Let's go. We'll get back to the real world and then we'll talk about this."

"Thanks," Will said, taking the hand. "But we need to hurry." He seemed much calmer now that we were set on returning to the real world.

"Am I allowed to move now?" Kari asked.

"Just stay away for now, at least until we get back," Will said.

"What exactly happened anyways Kari?" I asked. "Why did you need Izzy's computer?

"I wanted to take Will to the digital world to talk, because he kept avoiding me in the real world. As soon as we got here he started running away from me and telling me that we had to go back to the real world," Kari explained. "He's acting really weird. Who's that?"

"Oh, that's Drakemon. He's the rookie form of Dremon," I explained. Couldn't you have at least told us why you ran off so fast?"

"I didn't want Will to leave again. Normally I would've told you, but I, huh?" Kari stopped in mid-sentence.

"What is it Kari?" Yolei asked.

"I don't know, I feel really weird," she said.

"Me too," said TK. Will used that curse word again.

"What's going on?" Izzy asked.

"It's too late," Will said slowly. "Why does this have to happen again?"

"What's happening Will!" Izzy demanded. Suddenly, something began to glow inside Will's shirt, but not a normal glow. It was a strange, black glow darker even than the black shirt that he wore. He reached into his shirt and pulled out a pendant which must have been his crest and tag.

"I don't know what's happening. That's up to the dark crest now," Will said.

"Dark crest?" Izzy questioned.

"My crest is the crest of darkness," Will said. We all stared at him, except for Kari, who apparently knew already. But our surprise was only amplified when both Kari and TK began to glow, Kari a shining pinkish light and TK a bright white light. The blazing brilliance surrounded them and suddenly the egg above us began to spin rapidly. The glow grew brighter and brighter until it shot out of both of them up at the egg. In the shapes of two arrows, the beams of light collided with the egg, and flew into it. The dark crest glowed fiercely now, black as a starless night. We were all transfixed on the egg, wondering what would come out of it. It spun faster and faster until it finally froze in mid-air. Then a beam of black light shot out of it, creating a crack, and then another, and another. Slowly, the giant egg began to hatch above our heads.

Will was the only one not in awe of the egg. He simply stared at the ground, asking nobody in particular, "Why?" over and over again.


	9. Of Dreams and Darkness

_Author's note: Once again, I have attempted something new in my story, writing a chat room conversation. I made the screen names fairly obvious (I think). _

Chapter 9: Of Dreams and Darkness

"Hello, this is Mimi," I said, picking up the phone.

"Hi, Mimi, this is Tai. Have you found Michael yet?"

"Yes, he's been waiting on his computer to talk to you and Matt. His screen name is faithcrest02. I bet you can guess what his crest is from that, right?"

"Yeah, pretty much. You want in too?" Tai asked politely.

"Absolutely! I haven't had the chance to chat with you two in ages." I replied happily.

"Well, we're not really chatting, but alright. Are you online?" Tai asked.

"Yes, I've been sitting her talking to Michael," I replied as the invitation to the chat room popped up. I entered, and Matt and Tai were both there already. I did a quick switch with my computer so that I could type in Japanese to them, and then Michael arrived.

Faithcrest02: Hello everyone, this is Michael.

CityGirl19: Hi everybody!

CityGirl19: I'm so glad to talk to everyone again! 

CityGirl19: Michael, these are my friends Tai and Matt

Soccerfreak77: Hi, this is Tai, and Matt. You're Mimi's friend

Rockking: Hi Michael, I'm Matt

Faithcrest02: Yes, I'm Mimi's friend. She told me that you met Will

Soccerfreak77: Yeah we did, but he started acting really messed up

Rockking: he said his crest was helpfulness but I didn't buy that

CityGirl19: I met Will once a while ago

CityGirl19: he seemed like a nice person

CityGirl19: what was wrong with him?

Rockking: slow down Mimi, don't have a seizure

Faithcrest02: well, he obviously lied to you, but I can explain why

CityGirl19: sorry Matt I just type really fast in chatrooms

Soccerfreak77: let's hear it

Rockking: no problem Mimi, yeah let's hear it

Faitcrest02: well first of all, his crest is darkness

Soccerfreak77: darkness?

Rockking: …..

CityGirl19: There's a crest of darkness?

Faithcrest02: yes Will's crest is darkness

Faithcrest02: he probably hesitated to tell you because of our group

Rockking: did something happen?

Faithcrestt02: it's a long story, but I'll explain

Soccerfreak77: we're listening

Faithcrest02: Will was the last one to find his crest, but when we found out that it was the crest of darkness, we were rather surprised, to say the least. After all, darkness is what we had been battling the entire time. We did manage to defeat Daemon, but it took all of us, including Will. That's probably why he didn't tell you his real crest.

Soccerfreak77: that makes sense I guess

Rockking: but TK said that he saw Daemon a few months ago

Rockking: that's my little bro

Faithcrest02: That brings me to the next part of the story. It involves another member of our group, Ricky. Ricky's crest is the crest of dreams. But before I explain what happened, I need to explain what we learned from a friend about the crests. As you know, there are many kinds of crests which have great power, enough to let digimon digivolve to ultimate levels. But there are four crests that are different from all the rest. Those crests are dream, hope, light, and dark. Normal crests like my crest of faith draw power from my faith and that power can aid those around me, just like most crests. But the four special crests operate differently. They draw on the hopes, dreams, light, and darkness of those around the crest-bearer, and gain power from them. That power is then channeled differently, and has different effects than normal crests. A person with the hope crest can't share their hope with others, but can share other's hopes and gain power, which is opposite of normal crests, like mine, which can share my faith with others, but does not allow me to borrow their faith. After all, if it's my strongest attribute, I shouldn't need to borrow it. But the dark crest stands alone from the other three special crests. It operates in the same way, but it is the antithesis of all three. Our friend used the words 'destroyer of light, dasher of hope, killer of dreams' to describe the dark crest in relation to the other three. It's an accurate description. You see, the power of the dark crest reacts negatively with the other crests. It attacks them, and does strange things. It attacked Ricky after Daemon was defeated, and the negative reaction caused Daemon to be reborn. Daemon fled after he was reborn because he knew he couldn't beat us as he was, he was much weaker than normal when he returned. We figured he would store up power and try to get us again, but thankfully he never did. Also luckily, the crest has continued to react to the dream crest, but on a much lesser scale. It creates very weak enemies that we can easily take care of, and seems to react much less frequently. I think that it built up a tolerance to the dream crest, and so after the initial reaction, none of the subsequent ones will be even close to as bad as that first one. One last thing you should know, the crests will only react while they are in the digital world, and in close proximity to each other. Outside of the digital world they won't react.

Soccerfreak77: Kari has the crest of light.

Rockking: TK's crest is hope.

CityGirl19: is that really bad?

Faithcrest02: I don't know. The dark crest only had the dream crest to react to for us. I'm not sure what two crests would do.

Soccerfreak77: We've got to go find Kari and TK. Thanks for the help Michael.

Faithcrest02: don't mention it. If I can ever do anything to help, don't hesitate to ask.

Rockking: thanks a million man

Both Tai and Matt left the room. Michael and I said goodbye to each other, and also left. I sat there for a while and thought about what Michael had said. If Will's crest was going to have a reaction to Kari and TK's, they might need me and Palmon to be there to help. I made up my mind that instant to fly back to Tokyo to see if I could lend a hand. I picked up the phone and called Tai.

"Hello, look, this is not a good time, so . . ."

"Tai, it's Mimi," I said.

"Oh, hi Mimi. Look, I can't reach Kari on the phone. I'm afraid that she's in the digital world, so me and Matt are going to try to find some way there. I'm going to call Cody, Yolei, Davis, and Ken because Matt can't find TK either. I'm sorry but I really can't talk right now."

"That's alright. I just wanted to say that I'm coming to Tokyo to help in any way that I can," I said quickly.

"Great, we'll probably need all the help we can get. Looking forward to it, bye," and he hung up before I had a chance to say goodbye. It was rather rude, but I could understand his being in a hurry. I thought for a few minutes on what would be the best course of action for explaining this to my parents, and then I started to book the trip online.


	10. Death Returns

Chapter 10: Death Returns

"I don't know what's happening. That's up to the dark crest now," Will said.

"Dark crest?" Izzy questioned.

"My crest is the crest of darkness," Will said. We all stared at him, except for Kari, who apparently knew already. But our surprise was only amplified when both Kari and I began to glow, Kari a shining pinkish light and me a bright white light. The glow grew brighter and brighter until it shot out of us up at the egg. In the shapes of two arrows, the beams of light collided with the egg, and flew into it. We were all transfixed on the egg, wondering what would come out of it. Then a beam of black light shot out of it, creating a crack, and then another, and another. Slowly, the giant egg began to hatch above our heads.

In a blast of black energy, the egg was shattered, and a digimon fell to the ground amid us, landing softly on his feet. His all too familiar dress gave away instantly who he was, and his laugh only confirmed our worst fears.

"It's so nice to see you all again," Myotismon cackled.

"How, but we defeated you?" I said, still half unable to believe what was happening.

"My crest revived him," Will said, almost in agony. "It reacted to the light and hope crests to recreate an evil from the past."

"In that case I must thank you, child," Myotismon sneered. "You will die last!"

"You wish!" Drakemon yelled.

Drakemon digivolve to…..:Hydramon!

It wasn't as big as Skullhydramon, but it did still have five heads, mounted on long necks, all of which resembled Drakemon's head, including the protruding fangs.

"Soul Fang!" Hydramon's five heads screeched as each of them launched a blast of energy at Myotismon. He cast the attack off with ease.

"Crimson Lightning!" He yelled as he blasted Hydramon hard.

"Patamon help him!" I called out as I managed to pull myself together.

Patamon digivolve to…..:Angemon!

"Hand of Fate!" Angemon yelled as he attacked Myotismon. He had much more trouble dealing with Angemon's attack, which was very strong against evil digimon. But he was still an ultimate, and much stronger than two champions.

"Grisly Wing!" Myotismon's attack launched hundreds of bats at our digimon.

Hawkmon armor digivolve to…..:Hawsemon!

Armadillamon armor digivolve to…..:Digmon!

I looked over to see that Cody and Yolei's digimon had also digivolved, and were now attacking Myotismon. But none of them could match his power. His Crimson Lightning took out each of our digimon in turn, until only Angemon was left to protect us.

"Ah, you all seem so weak without your crests. It almost wasn't any fun to destroy you all," Myotismon laughed.

"You haven't won yet! I'm still here," Angemon declared. He called down to me, "TK, you and the other must escape. I'll hold him off!"

"Angemon, you can't beat him," I yelled.

"But I can save you, and that is what I must do!" He called back, and turned to face Myotismon. Myotismon prepared an attack, and Angemon braced himself.

"Everybody, we've got to get out of here!" Izzy called out. We all turned to run, until we heard a loud roar.

"Nova Blast!" A massive fireball erupted from the trees behind Myotismon and hit him square in the back. Garurumon then leapt out and tackled him to the ground. He quickly recovered and knocked Garurumon away as Greymon emerged from the forest, along with Tai, Matt, Davis, Ken, and Gatomon. Then we heard another loud voice coming from the trees.

"Let's see if you have any fun fighting me!" Paildramon yelled as he rose out of the trees. "Desperado Blaster!"

Myotismon was forced to focus all of his strength on blocking the attack. Then Greymon, Garurumon, and Angemon all attacked at once. Myotismon apparently knew that he couldn't take them all on, because when the dust cleared, he had vanished. We all knew better than to hope he was dead.

"Kari, are you okay?" Tai called out as they ran over to us.

"Yeah, Tai, we're alright. Thanks for coming though," Kari said.

"It's a good thing you got here when you did," Izzy started. "I'm not sure how much longer we could have lasted. Did you two talk to Mi, er . . ." Izzy cut himself off, remembering that Will was there.

"Yeah, we did," Matt said, "and we learned some really weird stuff. I think we should all go back to the real world for now though. We can talk about it there."

"Good idea Matt. I think everybody could use a rest," Izzy said. Everyone agreed.

Almost everyone was silent as we walked to the nearest digiport. Almost everyone.

"So what exactly happened?" Davis asked Matt.

"We'll explain later, Davis," Matt replied tersely.

"But who did you guys talk to?" Davis persisted.

"We'll explain later, Davis," Matt said more slowly and deliberately.

"But if you guys . . ."

"DAVIS WILL YOU KNOCK IT OFF ALREADY!" Matt yelled at him. "I said we would explain when we got back to the real world, and we will."

It was quite an explanation that Matt and Tai had for us. Most of us were still trying to comprehend that Will had a crest of darkness. The fact that it went berserk in the presence of certain other crests was almost too much to believe, but we had all seen it happen. After the description of their conversation with Michael, Matt and Tai had some questions for Will.

"Why didn't you just tell us what the problem was?" Tai asked. We were sitting in the school's computer lab with the door locked shut. All of our digimon were there as well, with the exception of Tentomon, because Tai felt that with Myotismon back they couldn't separate.

"I, I guess I didn't think it was a problem. I didn't know their crests, and once I found out, I tried to get away, but,"

"Why couldn't you just tell us?" Matt demanded. "Then none of this would have happened."

"I . . . couldn't. I was," Will seemed almost lost in his own head, on the verge of tears. "I was afraid."

"Afraid of what?" Tai asked.

"I don't know! I was just afraid!"

"Tai, Matt, stop it!" Kari yelled suddenly. "It's just as much my fault. Will tried to protect us by leaving, and I dragged him back to the digital world."

Everyone stared at Kari for a few seconds, before Tai said, "Still, if he would have explained his crest to us, that wouldn't have happened either. Now we've got a huge problem on our hands. Myotismon is a very powerful digimon, and even though we fought him off today, he wasn't at full strength. Now we've got to think of a new way to fight him off, because we used our crests to try to shield the digital world, so we don't have them in us as much now. We don't have the kind of firepower that we used to."

"I'll help," Will said. "I have my crest still," he said as he pulled the tag and crest out of his shirt. "I caused this problem for you all; I have to help fix it."

"Well that's very noble of you, but you could have just not caused the problem in the first place," Matt said.

"Will you guys stop being so hard on him?" Kari said again. "This was beyond any of our control, even his."

"But won't the crest react again if he goes back to the digital world?" Ken asked.

"Michael told us that it will react again, but not as severely. If we can defeat Myotismon, any future problems won't be difficult," Tai explained.

"I feel that the best course of action is for everyone to go home and get some rest," Izzy began. "Once we've all slept and collected our thoughts, we meet in the park tomorrow to discuss our plan of action."

"That sounds like a good idea Izzy," Ken agreed. "It's hard to think when we're all wound up like this."

"Alright, that's what we'll do," Tai said. "I'll call Joe and Sora and explain the situation. Izzy, see if you can track down Tentomon, Gomamon, and Biyomon and relay the message to them."

"Good idea Tai. I'll get started as soon as I get home," Izzy said. He stood up and walked out the door. Ken followed, with Minimon in his back pack. Matt left too, with Gobumon draped over his shoulder pretending to be a carnival prize. Agumon followed suit as Tai left. We said goodbye to Cody, and then Yolei, and they left as well.

"C'mon Patamon, let's split," I said. "Kari, do you want me to walk you home?"

"No, you go ahead TK. I want to talk to Will," she said quietly, glancing at the boy who was now staring out the window on the other side of the room. In the quiet, I could hear him mumbling something.

"Shark, where are you, buddy?" he whined quietly, thinking that we couldn't hear him.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" I whispered.

"He needs somebody, TK. Tai and Matt were too hard on him. I'll only stay a few minutes." She said.

"Alright, bye," I said. She echoed my words, and I walked away, down the hall, down the stairs, and out of the school. I stopped for a moment, and stared up at the sky. The vision of the digital world floating upside down in it was still all too vivid of a memory.

_Say your prayers little one, Don't forget, my son, To include everyone  
Tuck you in, warm within, Keep you free from sin, Till the sandman he comes_

Sleep with one eye open, Gripping your pillow tight

Exit light  
Enter night  
Take my hand  
Off to never never land

Something's wrong, shut the light, Heavy thoughts tonight, And they aren't of snow white  
Dreams of war, dreams of liars, Dreams of dragons fire, And of things that will bite

Sleep with one eye open, Gripping your pillow tight

Exit light  
Enter night  
Take my hand  
Off to never never land

Now I lay me down to sleep, pray the lord my soul to keep  
If I die before I wake, pray the lord my soul to take

Hush little baby, don't say a word, And never mind that noise you heard  
Its just the beast under your bed, In your closet, in your head

Exit light  
Enter night  
Grain of sand

Exit light  
Enter night  
Take my hand  
We're off to never never land


	11. Why Does the Sand Fall?

Chapter 11: Why Does the Sand Fall?

TK left with a worried look on his face. We were all having a rough day, and Izzy was right in saying that we needed rest. Still, I didn't feel right leaving Will there without making sure he was okay. I walked past Gatomon, who had fallen asleep on one of the desks, and over to Will. He was holding Dremon in his arms and staring off into the sky. He still didn't realize that I hadn't left yet.

"Who's Shark?" I asked quietly, almost whispering so as not to disturb him. He looked over to me, surprised that I was there, and that I'd heard him. Then he looked down at Dremon and petted him softly.

"Shark was a member of my group. He was a really good friend. I was only ten when we all got taken to the digital world, and he looked after me," Will explained. "I guess we had something in common or something, but Shark was there for me when . . . never mind. It doesn't matter now."

He looked back to the sky, apparently remembering his old friend. I sat down next to him and stared with him, wondering what could be going through his head. Did he think we hated him? I certainly hoped not. I thought he must be feeling really lonely. All of his friends were still in America, and we had only known him for a short time. After what had just happened, he probably didn't think we would be his friends any more.

Outside, it started to snow. At first only small flurries, but it slowly transformed into a torrent of large, slow-falling flakes which made the scenery begin to whiten. The slow transformation as the snow began to take hold was amazing to watch.

"Don't you think the snow is pretty?" I asked him.

"I guess it is," he replied. "I lived in a really snowy town though. We've had blizzards that people have died in, though not in my life time. Snow's nice, but it can be a nuisance."

"I guess I didn't think of that," I replied. "But let's try to look on the bright side. There've been enough bad thoughts for one day." He gave me a look that went straight through me, chilling me a little. I thought he was going to explode into a rant about how there was no bright side at the moment, but instead he just looked back to the sky.

"How about tomorrow you start teaching me English?" I offered. He looked at me again, but this time with a half-surprised, almost amused expression.

"You were serious about that?" he asked.

"Yeah, of course. I'm going to look into classes as soon as I get home. I've heard that it's good to be bilingual."

"Alright," he said, almost smiling. "Tomorrow I'll try to teach you the English Alphabet."

"Great! See, not everything's going bad."

The smile suddenly left his face, and he looked down at the ground. "Kari, can I show you something. It's really weird, but I think I can show you," he said slowly, almost sadly.

I hesitated at first, not sure what he was talking about, but I decided that it would probably ease his mind. "Sure, what is it?"

He pulled the dark crest out from under his shirt again and held it in his hand. He set Dremon down on a table without a word. Dremon seemed to understand that this was important and didn't protest. Then Will took my hand, and closed his eyes, squeezing his crest tightly. Slowly, the room began to fade away. Everything shifted gradually toward complete blackness. Then slowly, dark grays and shades of black began to form into a strange new place. Slowly, a new world took shape around us, and as the images solidified, I came to the startling realization that it was the Dark Ocean.

Water surrounded us on all sides. We were standing on a tiny sandbar, raised above the motionless water. The bar was roughly circular, and about thirty feet across. There was nothing on it, save the two of us, and nothing to be seen out over the still water except for the eerie grayish black sky.

"The Dark Ocean," I said, astonished to see it again. "Did you bring us here?"

"You've seen it before?" Will questioned, surprised.

"Yes, a few times," I said. I could feel the darkness all around. It was chilling me, and somehow permeating through my skin into my body, spreading a calm, reserved fear.

Will seemed very surprised that I had been there before. Apparently he thought that the Dark Ocean was something that only he could see through his crest. "That's strange. How'd you get here before?"

"I don't know really, it just happened," I said. Will sat down near the water, and he stared down at the sand. He picked a little bit up, and then dropped it, watching it intensely, as if he were searching for one specific grain.

"Why does it fall where it does?" he asked suddenly.

"What do you mean?" I asked, not understanding.

"The sand. Why does it fall where it does? Why doesn't this grain land an inch farther that way," he indicated a direction, "or that way? Why do these two land so close to each other, and these two so far apart?" He was quiet again, staring down at the sand. He picked up a small pinch of it between his thumb and index finger, and slowly sprinkled it back onto the bar. "Why does it land where it does?" he repeated. "Is there some mathematical formula? Can I use math to figure out where the sand will fall next time, or why it fell where it did? Is it all just random? I don't understand why."

I sat down next to him and stared at the sand, still unable to completely grasp what he was saying. I don't even think he understood the question. The darkness was eating at me even worse now. I could feel the cold pressing in around me, and I started to shiver. Will seemed unaffected, absorbed in his contemplation of sand. He started to pick some up again in his hand, but he noticed that I was shivering, and dropped it.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm just a little cold," I responded.

"Let's go back. I don't think I can find the answer I want tonight," Will said. He held his hand out, and I gripped it with mine, which was shaking from the cold feeling that the darkness gave me. He gripped his crest tightly with the other, and the bland scenery began its slow fade to black. The computer lab began to reform itself, and as we reappeared, I saw a very worried Gatomon, staring at us, and nearby a very scared looking Dremon.

"Kari what were you doing?" Gatomon asked. "I woke up and I couldn't find you anywhere, and this pip-squeak was no help."

"We went to the dark ocean," Will said simply. Gatomon stared at him, almost unbelieving. "My crest can take me there," Will explained.

Gatomon couldn't seem to find words. Or, if she did, she kept them to herself for the moment.

"Let's go home, Dremon," Will said to his digimon. "You need some sleep."

"I'm not that tired," Dremon complained as Will picked him up. He walked over to the door, then stopped and turned back towards me.

"If you could, could you not, uh . . ."

"Tell anyone," I finished for him. "Don't worry, I won't." He walked out of the room, leaving me and Gatomon standing by the windows. I said it more to ease his mind than anything. I had thought that he had been scared after he learned about TK's and my crests, but now I realized that he had been scared since he came here. He had been so hesitant to reveal that he was a digidestined, despite knowing that we were. There was something missing in the story, something that made him hide from us. Something that made him run away at the first sign of trouble. I thought that I might talk to Michael myself about what it could be. After all, they were close friends, having been in the same group of digidestined. I picked up my back pack and started the long walk home, Gatomon following me closely.

We walked in silence for a long time, which was unusual. There was nobody in sight, and we normally would talk about something. I knew Gatomon was worried, and as we neared my apartment, she finally broke the silence. "Kari, did you really go back to the Dark Ocean?" she asked.

"Yes, Gatomon. Will seems to be able to go there whenever he wants to," I said.

"Do you think that that's a good idea? The Dark Ocean has never been anything but trouble," she said.

"I know, but I think I needed to. I can't figure Will out, and for some reason he seems to have a strong connection with the Dark Ocean, and not just because of his crest. Besides, it reminded me what we're fighting for, to make sure that this world never becomes that world."

"I guess," Gatomon said. She wasn't convinced, but I think that she, like me, was tired and wanted to get some rest. We walked into the apartment, and Gatomon darted quickly into my room to get to sleep. I went to Tai's room, and found him online again, talking to Matt, Izzy, Joe, and Sora. Agumon was asleep in Tai's bed.

"What took you so long?" Tai asked, not looking away from the computer.

"I just walked slowly I guess. What do Sora and Joe think?"

"They both don't know what to think. They say that they want to meet Will tomorrow, but they're unsure of what the dark crest could mean. Joe thought that it could be a trick, but I reminded him that Michael and his group have had experience dealing with this kid. I think that Joe is of the opinion now that we need to get him away from our group, especially you and TK, since that seems to be the biggest problem. Sora says that she doesn't want to judge him until she's met him, but she admitted that the idea of a dark crest creeped her out a little." Tai leaned back in his chair. "Izzy found Tentomon, Biyomon, and Gomamon. He and Ken are going to go bring them here from the digital world before they meet us in the park. That way we'll have the entire team, except for Mimi and Palmon. But Mimi said that she was going to try to fly here. Come to think of it they should bring Palmon to the real world too. I'll email Izzy and tell him," Tai said as he started typing on the computer again.

"You know, I don't think that Will's really that bad of a kid. I think he's just scared." I said. Tai stopped typing, and spun around to look at me.

"I never said he was a bad kid. He's just stupid. He should have explained from the beginning why there was a problem, and then this mess could have been avoided."

"But don't you think there's a reason why he wasn't up front about it?"

"Yeah, I guess. I wouldn't be too proud to have a crest of darkness," Tai said.

"I think there's more than that. There's got to be," I declared adamantly.

"Do what you want, but just be careful. Remember, you've only known him for a day or two," Tai reminded me.

"I know, but I really think that we're missing some important piece to his story, and I'm gonna find out what it is."


	12. A Plan of Action

Chapter 12: A Plan of Action

I couldn't sleep at all that night. I don't know if it was because I was scared, or surprised, or because I just wasn't that tired. Nothing really seemed to allow me to sleep. TK didn't seem to sleep well either. Every time I looked over at him he was tossing and turning. I knew he was really worried. I had a hard time imagining how we could win this time. We had given up the power of our crests, and without them we couldn't even digivolve to match Myotismon. We would have to rely on DNA digivolving to even compete with him. It wasn't going to be easy, that's for sure. I stared out the window for a long time, wondering what trials were in store for us.

TK was really quiet as we walked to the park. Not that we could have talked with me stuffed into his back pack, but I could sense that he wouldn't have wanted to talk anyways. TK had changed a lot since I first met him. I guess growing up can do that to people.

When we finally reached the park, TK let me out of the bag. Ken and Wormmon had already arrived, as had Cody, Joe, Izzy, and their digimon. Biyomon was also there, waiting for Sora, as was Palmon, even though Mimi wasn't going to show up. Will was there too, but he was leaning against a tree separate from the group.

Kari and Tai showed up a few minutes later, followed by Matt, then Sora, and Davis and Yolei showed up last. With everyone accounted for, we all sat down in a big circle, including Will.

"Alright, by now everyone is updated on the situation," Tai began, "So the next step is, what do we do. Any ideas?"

"Our primary focus should be how we are going to defend ourselves," Izzy said. "I figure that Myotismon was not at full power yesterday. We may not be able to fend him off in the future so easily."

"Good point Izzy," Matt said. "There's safety in numbers. We can't separate in the digital world, no matter what."

"But what if he comes into this world?" Cody asked.

"Can he?" Davis asked again.

"He's done it before, but he'd need a gate. It's impossible for him to know where the gates open, but he did build one of his own once. It's certainly a possibility we should consider." Izzy said.

"Then we should make small groups in this world that stick together. We need an ultimate for each group, so that we can at least match Myotismon's level," Ken began. "That means three groups, with the DNA digivolving partners split among them."

Tai thought for a minute, and then said, "These parties should probably not separate if possible, not even to sleep. That means that Kari and Yolei will only have Sora in their group. Actually, Palmon will stay with them in the absence of Mimi. Cody and TK will take Matt and Joe. Izzy and me will stay with Ken and Davis. Everybody okay with that?"

"You forgot Will," Kari said.

"Oh, right. Will can stay in our group," Tai said.

"No, I mean he could have a group too," Kari said. "he still has a crest, Drakamon can digivolve to ultimate."

There was a prolonged silence, followed by Tai's asking to talk to Kari alone for a few minutes. Nobody said anything until they returned. Kari looked a little bit hurt by whatever Tai had said, but didn't say anything.

"Alright, now we need a plan of attack," Matt said.

"We can just smash him," Davis said. "Imperialdramon is a mega, so he should have no trouble at all."

"While that's a great theory, we have to assume that Myotismon knows that we'll try that. He will almost certainly come up with a way to neutralize that advantage," Izzy explained.

"Well maybe we should talk to Jennai," Sora suggested.

"He does always seem to be helpful," Joe commented. "He'll at least be able to give us another point of view."

"I think he's one step ahead of us," Izzy said. "I just got an email from him; he wants us to go talk to him at his house."

"Well than what are we waiting for? Let's get going!" Gomamon said.

The tension lifted a little as we walked to Izzy's house. A plan, even an incomplete one, seemed to raise everyone's spirits. Kari was surprisingly the only one who didn't talk, other than Will. She didn't look angry any more, just kind of contemplative.

"Are you okay Kari?" Yolei asked.

"What? Oh, yeah, I'm fine," Kari replied.

"You sure? What did Tai say?" Yolei asked.

"Nothing, Yolei. Don't worry about it," Kari said.

"Gatomon," I whispered to her.

"What, Patamon?" Gatomon asked.

"Did anything weird happen after me and TK left?"

"Yeah, Will, er," Gatomon seemed to suddenly remember something.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Kari made me promise not to talk about it," she said.

"Is it bad?" I asked.

"Yeah, well, no. Well, I guess not, but it could be. I really can't say anything Patamon, I promised Kari," she said sadly.

"Okay then," I said. We had arrived at Izzy's house anyways.

Somehow, all twelve humans and thirteen digimon managed to fit into Izzy's room. We waited as the computer booted up and Izzy started the digiport program.

Will was still standing separate from the group, though not very much because we barely fit into the room. He was near the computer, and watching Izzy with a half-sad, half-scared look on his face.

I think Sora almost felt bad for him. She walked over to him, and tried to smile.

"Hi, I'm Sora. We weren't introduced before," she said, trying to sound friendly.

"Hi," Will said quietly.

"So, uh, what's America like?" She asked, trying to find a subject that wouldn't be problematic.

"I'd rather not talk, sorry," Will said quietly, and he turned toward the computer.

Sora seemed unsure of what to say. She must have thought that Will was a strange kid right then. But Will didn't really seem interested in anything that anybody else was doing. He reached into his shirt and pulled out the dark crest and stared at it.

"Alright, the portal's open," Davis announced as he pulled his D3 away. "Let's go."

Everyone started to step toward the computer, but the portal suddenly clicked shut.

"What happened?" TK asked.

"It's probably just a glitch. Open it again," Izzy said. Davis obliged, but as soon as he opened it, the portal snapped shut again.

"Could Myotismon be blocking us from entering the digital world?" Matt asked.

"I don't know how that could be possible," Izzy said. "Try one more time." Davis again opened the port. After a minute, it was still open.

"Well, that was weird," Izzy said. "Alright, let's go through."

"Wait," Will said suddenly. He pulled the crest back out from under his shirt. He had apparently tucked it away earlier. The portal clicked shut.

Everyone stared at him for a minute, and then Izzy said, "We're trying this again." After several test runs, Izzy came to his conclusion.

"Prodigious. It seems that the presence of the dark crest can actually close the gates!"

"But Will's been able to go through the gates," Ken observed. "Why did it just happen this time?"

"Because he exposed the crest directly to the computer. Every other time it was hidden," Izzy explained. "Also, these readings on the program seem to indicate that the gate only closed from this side. The other side of this one is still useable. The crest only blocks the gate from the side that it's on."

"Well, that's a nifty little trick, but we've got more important problems right now," Tai said.

"Good point, we need to find Jennai," Matt agreed. Everyone concurred, and we all entered the digiport.

Izzy's laptop showed us the location of Jennai's house. It was still under a lake, but as before the water parted to let us walk down the steps to Jennai's house.

"Well hello everyone. It's been a while," Jennai greeted us as we entered. "I wish you'd visit sometimes when you didn't have a serious problem."

"Speaking of that," Tai said, "Do you have any advice? Imperialdramon can beat him, but we're afraid he'll think of a way to prevent that."

"Indeed, he has. He has managed to find a digimon called Jikanumon which he can use to dangerous effect. Jikanumon is an in-training digimon which Myotismon has begun traveling with. But Jikanumon has an incredible power; anything that attacks it is reduced to its rookie form. Myotismon is holding the poor creature against its will to use as a shield against Imperialdramon."

"That's awful," Sora said.

"But that's not the only thing you should be worried about," Jennai said. "Myotismon is amassing an army of digimon loyal to him. He's not controlling their minds, but promising them positions of power when he rules the world in darkness. At first I thought that no digimon would aid him, but it seems that I underestimated the honor of many digimon. He has quite a force, and he plans to bring it against the real world first. He believes the real world to be weaker."

"But if he can block all of our attacks with Jikanumon, how can we possibly win?" Joe asked.

"Simple. Jikanumon is only an in-training digimon. If he gets deleted Myotismon can't use him any more. But that's not the only problem. There are some mega digimon that have joined his side." Jennai explained.

"What?!" Almost everyone asked at once. The idea of destroying Jikanumon was bad enough, but the idea that Myotismon had convinced megas to follow his orders was beyond comprehension.

"Why would any megas follow him? They're stronger than he is!" Tai yelled.

"Calm down my friend. I cannot explain why they would follow him, except that he is the organizer of the army," Jennai said. "That and he has a gate to the real world."

"What?!" Again, everyone was stunned.

"Yes, he rebuilt his old castle, gate and all. He's still gathering his forces, but there is very little time before he passes through the gate, maybe only days. You must find a way to destroy the gate and steal the cards that are used to open gates," Jennai explained.

"How do we pull that off?" Davis questioned.

"Beats me, you're the digidestined, you need to figure it out," Jennai said. Everyone groaned.

"Well, it seems we have only one course of action. We cannot allow Myotismon back into the real world," Izzy said. "Thus, I conclude that we must immediately head for his castle. We'll sneak in, steal the cards, destroy the gate, and sneak out."

"Great idea, except for the part where we blow the gate up and every guard in the castle hears us," Biyomon said.

"Don't worry, I thought of that. We just learned that Will's crest can close gates. We'll use it to shut the gate silently and sneak out unnoticed. We will of course have to be quick and sneaky about taking out guard, but Gatomon knows the entire layout of the castle." Izzy continued.

"That's right," Gatomon said, happy to be of assistance.

"With her knowledge we can move quickly and precisely. If we are quick enough, we might be able to get in and out in less than a half hour." Izzy concluded.

"Great plan Izzy, but what if we get caught?" Sora asked.

"In that event, everyone digivolves and we all run as quickly as we can. Even if Imperialdramon can't attack Myotismon, he can play defense for us while we escape, and he is fast enough to escape after everyone else is safe. Hopefully it doesn't come to that," Izzy said.

"Well, it sounds pretty risky, but it's our only option right now. Gatomon, are you sure you can lead us through the castle?" Tai asked.

"As long as he built it the same way it was, absolutely," Gatomon replied.

"In that case, it's settled. We set out for the castle!" Tai declared.


	13. Rush the Gate!

Chapter 13: Rush the Gate!

The castle was as evil looking as ever. The sight brought back terrible memories of what monsters had once lurked inside, and probably were there again. The whole idea of having to fight Myotismon all over again sent chills down my spine. I could remember how he had trapped everyone in the convention center, how he had mercilessly hunted for Kari, and how he had murdered Wizardmon. The thought that he could do it again steeled my mind; we had to stop him. We just had to.

"Sora, are you okay?" Biyomon asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a bit worried." I replied. We had stopped a few hundred yards from the castle for one last rest and to go over our strategy for taking out any guards that needed to be dealt with.

"Don't worry Sora. Everything will turn out fine, it always does," Biyomon reassured me.

"I know, Biyo, but somehow it's still frightening. Myotismon is really powerful. I have confidence in Izzy, but this plan is still really dangerous," I said.

"Remember, I'm right here. I'll help keep you and everyone else safe," Biyomon said.

"Thanks. I'll do whatever I can too," I said. I really wasn't sure that I could help very much, other than allowing Biyomon to digivolve. But, I suppose that was helping an awful lot. It was the only way we could help.

"Sora, we're ready to go," Matt said, tapping me on the shoulder.

"Oh, right," I said, standing up and following.

"Are you gonna be okay Sora?" Matt asked.

"Huh? Yeah, Matt I'll be fine, why?" I asked.

"Well, just, in case you need help or anything, I'll be there," Matt said shyly.

I laughed a little. "Oh, okay," I said. "I'll be there for you too." He smiled at me as we walked along.

"Alright everyone, here's the plan," Tai started. "First of all, Wormmon and Veemon are going to DNA digivolve so that we have an ultimate on hand if need be. Gatomon will then lead us to wherever Myotismon is hiding the cards that he used to open the gate. Once we have the cards, we go to the gate and Will's crest closes it. Then we split. All the other digimon will avoid digivolving unless they are needed, because it will be easier to sneak around while they're smaller, and we may need their strength for later. We may select some to digivolve and take out guards. Remember, we don't want to make any commotion, so stay quiet." Everyone nodded, and we headed straight for the castle.

There were no guards outside of it at the time, so we carefully snuck up to the doors. Tai slowly opened one just a little and peaked inside.

"Coast is clear," he whispered, and we all rushed in.

"Alright you two, digivolve," Tai said.

Veemon digivolve to…..:::::Exveemon!

Wormmon digivolve to…..:::::Stingmon!

Exveemon, Stingmon, DNA digivolve to…..:::::Paildramon!

"Alright everyone, this way," Gatomon said as we tiptoed through the castle.

"Shh," Tai said, and we all stopped. We could hear footsteps down the hall.

"This way," Gatomon said, leading us down another corridor. We entered a room with a Tyranamon on guard, but he was asleep in the middle of the room. We snuck silently past him and continued down another corridor.

"This place gives me the creeps," Gomamon said.

"Gomamon be quiet," Joe whispered.

"Sorry."

"Shh!"

We eventually found a room with several corridors leading out of it, but Gatomon didn't hesitate to pick the second one from the right. After scrambling into a room to avoid a group of guards roaming the halls, we continued our trek through the castle. We eventually came to a large wooden door at the very end of the hall.

"Myotismon keeps almost everything of great importance in this room," Gatomon said. "We should be able to find the cards in there."

The door was unlocked, and we all entered. The room was hardly lit at all, the only light coming from a single window high above many shelves filled with strange looking objects. But we had relatively little time to ponder the room.

"I've got them," TK said, holding up a small box. Inside were the nine cards that would open the gate.

"Now we can leave, right?" I asked.

"No, we need to find the gate next. Myotismon may have already opened it," Izzy explained. So far the plan was going perfectly. Gatomon once again proved herself very adept at sneaking around the castle. She knew all the places to hide from guards, and we didn't even need to attack any of them. We wound our way through the corridors until we reached the room with the gate. It was every bit as big as I remembered it, and it was already open.

"Okay, Will, shut it so we can get out of here," Tai said. Will walked toward the gate. In retrospect, we should have known that it wasn't going to be that easy.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," said a voice from down the hallway. We all froze, fearing the worst. Myotismon stepped out of the darkness. "I bet you thought that your little plan was perfect. You failed to account for the surprising intelligence of my guards. The Tyranamon you thought was sleeping actually was only pretending, so that he could catch intruders and report to me. I must admit, you've managed to evade me very well until now, but unfortunately for you, there is no escape from this room, save the portal behind you." Several digimon began to come out of the shadows behind him. Two Dokugamon were the worst of them, but there were also several Redvegemon, a Skullmeramon, and a Cherrymon.

"Tai, we've got to retreat through the portal, we can't fight him now," Matt said.

"We came here to close that gate, and that's what we'll do. We fight through them and clear the way to the exit. Leave the gate open just in case," Tai said. "Let's go everyone!"

Agumon digivolve to…..:::::Greymon!

Gabumon digivolve to…..:::::Garurumon!

Tentomon digivolve to…..:::::Kabuterimon!

Biyomon digivolve to…..:::::Birdramon!

Gomamon digivolve to…..:::::Ikkakumon!

Patamon digivolve to…..:::::Angemon!

Hawkmon digivolve to…..:::::Aquilamon!

Armadillamon digivolve to…..:::::Ankelomon!

Drakamon digivolve to…..:::::Hydramon!

Angemon, Ankelomon, DNA digivolve to…..:::::Shakuamon!

Aquilamon, Gatomon, DNA digivolve to…..:::::Silphymon!

Paildramon mega digivolve to…..:::::Imperialdramon!

"Well, this may be entertaining after all," Myotismon smiled. With his left hand, he pulled from under his cloak a small ball of bright blue fur with a big eye n the middle.

"Jikanumon!" Davis exclaimed.

"Oh, then you have heard of him? In that case I'm sure you realize how pointless it would be for you to fight me."

"Imperialdramon, help take out all of his minions first, then we'll worry about him!" Davis yelled.

"What an interesting strategy. I am curious to see how miserably it fails!" Myotismon laughed. "Grisly Wing!"

Imperialdramon stepped in front of the attack, and it didn't affect him much, but the other digimon were attacking also. He couldn't block all of the attacks. Birdramon tried her best, but she was no match for the ultimate level digimon. None of the champions were. They all were beaten and returned to their rookie stages.

"Biyomon, are you okay?" I asked, picking her up.

"I'll be . . . fine. Just stay safe Sora," she replied.

Tai, we can't take them! We have to retreat!" Matt yelled as he picked up Gabumon. Tai stared at the battle. He didn't want to fail, but he knew we couldn't win this time. We had to fall back.

"Crimson Lightning!" Silphymon took a direct hit. It had already been double teamed by both of the Dokugamon, and Myotismon's attack was too much. They returned to Gatomon and Hawkmon.

"Everyone go through the gate!" Tai yelled. "Hurry!"

"We can't just give up!" Gatomon yelled as she quickly stood up. She was a champion, so she still had strength left while Hawkmon didn't.

"There's no other choice! We've got to go!" Tai yelled.

"Yes you fools, flee! There is nothing you can do to stop me!" Myotismon laughed. "Grisly Wing!" the attack left Patamon and Armadillamon lying weak on the ground. Imperialdramon, Hydramon, and Gatomon were the only ones left still standing. Everyone started running for the gate. Everyone but Will.

"There's got to be something. There's always been a way, and there's got to be one here," he said. "Hydramon, do whatever you can to help us!"

"Soul Fang!" The five-headed dragon roared. Myotismon brushed off the attack as if it were nothing.

"This is becoming quite entertaining," Myotismon laughed.

"Will, get over here! There's nothing you can do!" Matt yelled.

"Wait," Kari said. "Will's right. There's always been a way, and there's got to be one now, too."

"Kari stop acting like that, we've got to . . . what the?" Tai was stopped short by the glowing light that was spraying out of Kari's digivice. Will's digivice suddenly lit up with a brilliant light as well.


	14. The Rise of Cerberumon

Chapter 14: Rise of Cerberumon

_Author's note: I wrote this chapter before I realized that there was a digimon called Cerberumon already in existence. The one in this story is slightly different, and has different attacks, but we'll blame that on the fact that the other is in a different season which doesn't have relevance to this one._

Hydramon and I both seemed to explode with light, and we suddenly began to twist and swirl into each other.

"Are they. . . ?" Tai couldn't finish the sentence.

"I think so," Sora said.

Gatomon, Hydramon, DNA digivolve to…..:Cerberumon!

I don't think I've ever experienced anything as strange as having three heads. It wasn't like any of them was particularly in charge, it seemed that my mind, or rather Hydramon's and my mind, were in all three, seeing and breathing and smelling out of them all. We had become a monstrous three-headed dog-like creature, and neither of us realized what exactly happened at first.

Tentomon explained what we had become. "Cerberumon is a legendary digimon who guards the entrance to the underworld. His Wall of Fire ability puts up a shield of flame that is almost impenetrable, and his Pluto's Bell attack sends a sonic blast straight through his enemies."

"Wall of Fire!" we roared, and a massive flaming barrier split the room in two, separating us from Myotismon.

"Crimson Lightning!" Myotismon yelled, but his attack couldn't get through our barrier. One of the Dokugamon tried to crawl through, but caught fire and fled the room. The barrier was very tiring to maintain, but it seemed all but invincible.

"That's amazing," Matt commented.

"This changes the situation a bit," Ken said.

"What just happened? I feel really weird," Will said. "There's something in my chest pounding and it's not my heart."

"It's mine, Will." Kari explained. "Our digimon DNA digivolved together. That connects the two of us so that they can share our power." She had a stunned smile on her face. Will turned back to Tai.

"Everybody else go through, then I'll close the gate from this side. If that barrier really is invincible, then Cerberumon can move it and I'll be able to get out of the castle," Will said.

Tai thought for a moment, then said, "Alright, we'll try to find you as soon as we can. Everybody, hurry, don't make them hold that barrier any longer than they have to!" Everyone began rushing through the portal.

"Kari, go, quickly!" Will said.

"I have to stay here, Gatomon's here and she needs me to be able to digivolve," Kari explained.

Will thought for a second, then agreed. As everyone disappeared through the portal, Will raised the Crest of Darkness to it. The light faded, and the door slammed shut.

"Climb on my back!" Hydramon and I yelled. The pair quickly obeyed.

"What is going on? What is the meaning of this?" Myotismon yelled. We ignored him, and began to move the Wall of Fire, rotating it around the room so that we had a clear pass to the exit. Myotismon didn't realize what we were doing until it was too late, and was trapped behind the wall, unable to prevent us from leaving. We dropped the wall as we reached the doorway and ran as fast as we could. Myotismon screamed in the background at his minions, but we could easily outrun them. We bolted through the castle, running past a few guards that were too slow to catch us, and ran straight for the door.

"Pluto's Bell!" We roared, and the bright blue rings of sonic energy smashed through the door. We bolted out into the half-sunlight of the digital world evening.

I'm not sure where exactly we ran, or for how long we ran. All I know was that night had long fallen by the time we stopped running by a river in a dense forest. Completely tired out, we finally split back into Drakamon and my champion form, Gatomon. Both of us fell down immediately, exhausted.

"Are you two okay?" Kari asked, very concerned.

"I'll be fine," I moaned. "I just need some rest. And food."

"I could go for a cheeseburger right about now," Drakamon said. "And maybe a nap, just for a little . . ." But he fell asleep before he finished. Rookies don't have very good endurance.

"I'm not sure we have very much food," Kari said, checking her pack. "I've got some candy bars, and a water bottle. Will, do you have anything?"

"Some granola bars, and an empty bottle of water," Will said as he dumped his pack on the ground. "Here Gatomon," he said as he tossed one to me.

"Thanks." I said. I unwrapped it and ate it. It tasted awful, but I was too hungry to care.

Will picked up Drakamon and set him down under a tree. He then pulled something out of his pocket, and pushed a switch on it up. A blade popped out, and he began to cut through the branches of some bushes in the forest.

"What are you doing?" Kari asked.

"I'm going to cut some branches to keep warm while we sleep. You want me to cut some for you too?" Will offered.

"I'll be fine," Kari said. "Do you always carry a knife?" It did seem like an odd habit.

"Yeah, but I'd never use it. It was a gift from a friend a few years ago." Will explained.

"Was it that Shark person?" Kari asked.

"Yeah, it was," Will said.

"What's he like?" Kari asked. Will stopped and turned to look at her. She had sat down on a log and was watching him closely.

"Why do you ask? You'll probably never see him." Will said after their brief staring contest.

"I'm just curious. He was obviously a really good friend to you," she said.

"Yeah, he was," Will replied with a sigh. "Alright, I guess it can't hurt. First off, his name's not really Shark, it's Flander Connors. He's a really good swimmer, so until he was about six, his family would sometimes call him Fish. He didn't like either name, so he began introducing himself to people as Shark, and now even his mother calls him that."

"That's funny," Kari laughed. "Does his dad call him that too?"

"His dad was arrested when he was seven," Will said bluntly.

"Oh," Kari said as she stopped laughing.

"Shark grew up in a bad neighborhood in New York City. His mom had to take a second job to support them after his dad went to jail. With nobody around the house, he just wandered around his neighborhood. He's been involved with gangs there, and he used to carry this switchblade and actually use it. For some reason he really works hard at swimming. He says it's because he's got nothing better to do, but he's top ten in the country in front crawl." Will said. Kari was quiet. "Shark's the one that told me that there's always a way to succeed, no matter what the situation. He was in my group of digidestined in America, along with Michael, Jesse, Laura, and Ricky. Shark's crest is serenity, I guess because he keeps his cool in tough spots. He's really not as bad as you might think. He, he helped me get through a really rough time in my life. Ever since we got sucked into the digital world, he's always been there for me." Will's eyes were starting to water a little, remembering some event long ago. "He's a tough guy, but he's a really good friend. I don't think I'll ever meet anybody quite like him." Will stopped quickly and went back to cutting the branches. Kari watched him silently. Will seemed to be more complex than she had realized at first. She knew she didn't have the whole story, but she didn't want to pressure Will any. He would talk about whatever happened when he felt like it.

Will piled the branches on top of Drakamon and sat down under the tree. He leaned back against it and stared up into the clear night sky. I walked over to Kari and climbed up into her lap.

"Gatomon, shouldn't you be getting some sleep?" she asked.

"I can stay up and keep watch for a while," I replied.

"Alright, but make sure to get some sleep eventually. I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow."

"Don't worry, I will," I said, snuggling up against her. There was a long, peaceful quiet, during which only crickets could be heard, scraping their legs together in the branches above our heads.

Kari picked me up and lay down next to the log, and I snuggled up to her again.

"Hey Will?" Kari said suddenly. I looked up at her, wondering what she was asking now.

"What?" Will said, opening his eyes and looking over at us.

"Tomorrow, can you start teaching me English?" Kari asked.

Will stared at her for a few seconds, then replied with a slight nod, "Sure, just after we figure out what we're going to do. Get some sleep."

"Goodnight," Kari said as she closed her eyes.

"'Night," Will said, leaning back against the tree.

I had a brief notion that someone should keep watch, but I fell asleep before I really thought about it.


	15. Be Sneaky

Chapter 15: Be Sneaky

We stood in the little plaza in the summer camp, slightly surprised to find ourselves there. It made sense. The gate had dropped us there once before, and it was only logical that the same gate led to the same place. Nobody was really thinking about that, despite the fact that we would have a really hard time getting home.

"Do you think they're okay?" TK asked, voicing what was on everyone's mind.

"Don't worry TK, I'm sure they're fine," Patamon reassured him.

"Isn't there some way we can find out?" Matt asked.

"I'm trying to right now,' Davis said. "But Kari hasn't responded to my message yet."

"I think that it's reasonably to figure that they escaped," I said.

"Why that Izzy?" Tentomon asked me.

"Well," I said, pulling up the digimon analyzer on my laptop, "Cerberumon is a very fast digimon, and the wall that it put up did seem to be invincible. There is a very logical way in which they could have escaped. Both are them are fairly smart, so I'm sure that they will have figured it out."

"Well, that's a relief," Joe said.

"There's no way to know for sure though, until we actually hear from them," Tai said, sounding very worried.

Sora put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry Tai, I'm sure they'll be alright."

"Yeah, Tai," Agumon said. "Gatomon will take good care of them."

"Thanks guys," Tai said. "Alright we can't do anything from here. Let's get home and plan our next move."

"And how are we supposed to do that?" Davis asked.

"Hey everyone! Over here!" Gomamon yelled from the river a few hundred feet away. We all ran over, and saw many of the camp's rowboats docked on a pier.

"I asked the fish, they say that this river goes right to Tokyo!" Gomamon smiled.

"We can't use the camp's boats, Gomamon. We wouldn't be able to get them back here," Joe said.

"No, but we can use those!" Gomamon said, pointing to a pile of trees which had been cut down to make room for a new building. "We'll float down the river right to home!"

"Hm," I looked on my laptop for some maps. "Gomamon's right. With the current in the river, and the fact that it is much straighter than the road, we'll get home almost two hours faster than if we walked."

"I don't think I want to get wet though," Yolei said.

"Well then Yolei, take my laptop and use this map to get back. Just so you know, it's about a five hour walk." I said.

"Oh fine, I'll take the river," Yolei decided.

"This will speed up the trip even more, Marching Fishes!" Gomamon said. Hundreds of fish sprang up out of the water, waiting to help push the logs downstream.

"Gomamon, you never cease to amaze me," Joe said with a smile.

Two hours later, we climbed out of the river and quickly headed for home. We all decided to meet at my house again the next morning. For the most part, everyone was there bright and early. Davis was the last to arrive, which was no surprise to anyone.

"YAWN! Learn anything?" He asked groggily.

"Yes, actually," I began now that everyone was there. "Just this morning I received an email from Kari's D-terminal. The email said that Will had written it, because Kari was still sleeping. He says they're perfectly fine, and that as soon as Kari wakes up he'll have her send an email."

Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief. Just then, the mail icon lit up again.

"Hey, I got another just now," I said. Everyone crowded around the computer to see.

_Hey Izzy! It's Kari this time. We're all fine, so make sure Tai isn't worrying too much. We've got enough food for now, and we're far away from Myotismon. _

_Will and I have been talking, and he figured that even though we closed that gate, other gates that open randomly could still let Myotismon through. Will wants to stay in the digital world so that he can close the gates. He wanted me to go back through the next gate we find, but I've decided to stay here and help protect him. So here's our plan right now: You guys keep us updated on where gates are opening, and we'll close them. In the meantime, you all figure out a strategy for defeating Myotismon. And don't worry about helping us; it's easier to travel in a smaller group. If we need anything, we'll tell you and you can bring it through a portal. Tai, I know you're going to be mad at me, but please understand, I think this is the best course of action. Tell me if you guys think of a better plan. I'll miss you guys, and good luck! _;)

Everyone looked at Tai. "Well, Tai," Matt said, "It's your call. Is this a good plan?"

Tai was quiet for a little while, and then decided. "It's the best plan we've got right now. If those two can keep Myotismon out of this world, we'll have time to gather our strength. It's the only option right now."

"We should try to contact other digidestined around the world and warn them all," Yolei said. "They can help us fight off Myotismon's army."

"We'll train really hard too, to make sure we're as strong as can be," Gabumon said.

"Tai, don't you think it would be more logical for us to rotate responsibility for helping protect Will. That way Kari can have a chance to rest too," Joe said.

"No, I think Kari wants to do this herself," Tai said. Everyone looked at him, kind of surprised. Even I admit that I didn't understand at that time.

"Kari said she wanted to find something out about Will. She thinks there's some other secret that he won't share, some other reason why he didn't tell us his crest at first. I think she wants to try and work it out of him. For now, let's just leave them be and focus on our part of the plan." Tai said.

"Alright Tai, if you're sure," Matt said.

"I'll send Kari an email telling her what we're going to do," I said. "After that we need to figure out just how we're going to go about this." I said as I typed up the reply.

"Alright," I began, "the most obvious thing to do is divide up the responsibilities. I'm going to get a webpage running so that we can put together a connected community of the digidestined all around the world. Someone needs to monitor the digital world and email Kari and Will whenever a portal opens. They'll have an advantage because Myotismon won't be able to detect when the portals open. Most of us will be involved in trying to track down digidestined all over the world and getting them onto the network and informed about what is happening. We'll need all the strength we can gather if Myotismon really does have mega level digimon on his side. Lastly, someone needs to stay in contact with Jennai and our allies in the digital world."

Tai smiled. "Alright everyone, let's get moving!"


	16. Adverbs

Chapter 16: Adverbs

_Author's note: For the purposes of this chapter, and the rest of the story, spoken lines that are italicized are spoken in English, while spoken lines typed normally are spoken in Japanese. This is to avoid confusion and because I don't know Japanese._

"Alright, try this one," Will said, pointing to the new word he had scratched into the soft sand.

"Um, _br-i-ng-s,_"I said, slowly sounding out each letter. "_Brings._"

"Great. That means 'brings.' Now try putting all the words together," Will said.

"_The boy brings water,_" I said very slowly, but in English.

"That was really good, Kari. You've almost got it," Will said. "I didn't think I'd be able to teach you this stuff by myself, but you're a good learner."

"I'm doing my best," I said. "So what's next?" I smiled happily. The lessons didn't seem so hard. Of course, I hadn't learned many words yet, even though we'd been practicing all morning, but I was able to make a couple different sentences.

"How about we try an adverb?" Will asked as he erased the previous sentence.

"Okay. How do we make it?" I asked. English didn't seem that hard so far.

"We'll use the word _slow_. For most adverbs, you just take an adjective and add _-ly_ to the end of the word. So _slow_ becomes _slow-ly_." He explained.

"_The boy brings slowly water_." I said, again being careful to get the pronunciation correct. "How was that?"

"Usually you want to put the adverb in front of the verb," Will said. "Try making another adverb with a different word."

"Alright, how about, _bigly?_" I said, using one of the other adjectives I had learned.

"Well, actually that's not a word. You can't really describe an action with _big_." Will explained.

"Why did humans make so many languages? It seems kind of silly to me," Gatomon asked.

"I'm not really sure. I guess they just came up with different languages based on where they lived," I explained. I turned back towards Will. "So all English adverbs end in _ly_?"

"Not necessarily," Will said. "One thing that makes English hard is that every rule is going to be broken at some point. The English word for backwards is _backwards_, and it doesn't end in _ly_. There are lots of other broken rules too. Silent _E_s are probably going to be hard, and when _y_ changes to _I_ to make some forms of words."

"Let's stick with the easy stuff for now," I said. I thought that for the first day, I was learning pretty quickly. Of course, I couldn't say very much, and I had a hard time understanding Will even when he used words that I had learned.

We spent most of the morning sitting on the beach, with Will writing words in the sand and explaining their meaning, and me trying to put them into the basic sentences that I had learned, like '_The big cat likes milk'._ Except that I kept pronouncing the _e_ in _likes_. Silent_ E_s are really hard to get used to.

"I think that's good for now," Will said, wiping away the words in the sand. "We should probably look for some lunch."

"Already taken care of!" Drakamon announced, as he dragged a large leaf with lots of fish on it towards us.

"We've been fishing by the river. We figured you'd be hungry after all that studying," Gatomon said.

"Thanks Gatomon, great job!" I said. We dragged some wood into the beach and Drakamon's Spirit Fang lit the fire. Neither of us were exceptional at cooking, but we managed.

"You'd think I'd be able to figure this out, my dad's in the food business," Will commented, looking at the slightly burnt fish on the end of his stick.

"It's too bad Matt isn't here. He's a really good cook," Gatomon said.

"Yeah, he always did most of the cooking when we were in the digital world," I recalled, thinking back to the weeks we spent fighting the Dark Masters. "That seems like ages ago. I was only eight years old." I laughed, thinking back to how Tai and Matt had been so protective of TK and me.

"How'd you guys eat?" Gatomon asked Drakamon.

"Shark and Jesse were both really good at cooking. Shark would even slice up the fish so that we wouldn't have to pick at them like this," Drakamon said. "Uniquemon never ate the fish though. He liked to eat the leaves off low bushes."

"Who's Uniquemon?" I asked Will.

"He was Shark's digimon. He's an aquatic one, looks kind of like a ball with a long tentacle sticking up out of his head," Will said.

"What was the rest of your group like? I've already met Michael, but there were others, right?" I asked him.

"Yeah," Will said, staring out at the ocean. "The others were Jesse, Laura, and Ricky. Ricky's a year younger than me, nine at the time. We knew each other pretty well because we both went to nationals for butterfly in our age groups. His digimon was Candlemon."

"You guys were really good friends too?" I asked. Will didn't respond. He had become quiet again. "Will, what's wrong?"

Will shook his head. "Nothing. I was just thinking about something," he said, not looking at me.

I looked at him for a long time, but he wouldn't return my gaze. There was something about him that made him different from my other friends. Some kind of mystery, a secret that he was keeping from us.

"Did something strange happen to your group?" I asked. Will turned and looked straight at me. I felt a shiver run down my spine from the coldness of the look, despite the fact that it was sunny and warm on the beach.

"It's nothing," Will said, finally looking away. But Drakamon slithered up next to me.

"Um, it's probably better for you not to talk to Will about that," he whispered to me. "It really hurts him."

"Did his crest react really badly with Ricky's?" I asked, figuring that had to be the problem.

"No. Well, it did, but that's not the whole story. Just don't bring it up again, please?" he asked. It seemed like he didn't want to talk about it any more than Will did.

"Alright, I won't," I said quietly. He slithered over to Will and curled up in his lap. Will looked down and started softly petting Drakamon's head. I looked at Gatomon, and she looked back, just as confused as I was. But we couldn't ask them what had happened. They didn't want to say. I was getting worried that it was something bad, but not knowing what, I was powerless to do anything about it. So I sat there and waited for Will to calm down. He picked up some sand in his hand and stared at it, then tossed it into the ocean. He really was one of the strangest people I had ever met.

Izzy's email had said that there were two portals near us that we'd be able to close that day if we hurried. One was a bout an hour's walk up the shore, and the other was a little ways out to sea, on an island. Izzy said that he had come through the first earlier and left a raft so that we could get to the second one. We set out late in the afternoon. Will had cheered up a bit, and I was glad. Walking always seems to take longer when you don't have anyone to talk to.

"What excuse do you think they'll make up for us not being in school?" I asked.

"My dad will probably just tell them that I'm visiting family back in America. That would be fairly logical, since my mother, brother, and sister are still there," Will said.

"You have a brother and sister?" I asked, curious.

"Yeah. Jake is a year younger than me, and Steph is five years younger. Steph is really jealous that I have Drakamon," Will laughed. "Once when he was Dremon she tried to take him to school and pretend that he was her digimon."

"Do your parents know about the digital world?" I asked.

"Yeah. I figured it was easier just to explain everything to them than to try and hide Drakamon from them. Don't yours?"

"Well, yeah, but only because they saw what happened when Myotismon came to our world with his army before. We tried to hide our digimon from them, or rather Tai tried to. I didn't find out that Gatomon was my digimon until most people had already seen them."

"Hey Gatomon, if you were in Myotismon's army, don't you have some friends who can get us inside information?" Will asked.

"No. Most of them were jealous of me because I was his favorite," Gatomon smiled.

"That's a little ironic, don't you think?" Drakamon said.

"I suppose," Gatomon mused.

Off in the distance, I saw a TV set sitting half buried in the sand. "Hey, I think I see it," I announced. We sped up a bit, with Gatomon running ahead all the way t the TV.

"Yeah, this is it alright! I can feel it!" Gatomon said. The screen was glowing brightly. Along the shoreline, the large raft that Izzy had promised was pulled up onto the shore.

"Alright, here goes nothing," Will said as he pulled out his tag and crest. He held it close to the screen, and it started to glow with its usual black light. The glow from the screen faded away before the darkness.

"That's step one I guess. Now we've got to go find the other one," Will said as he looked toward the raft.

"Can we eat first?" Drakamon asked.

"You're kidding right? We just ate less than two hours ago," Gatomon said.

"But I'm hungry, really!" Drakamon complained.

"We'll get something when we reach the island. You can go fishing again. I'd like to get this thing closed as quickly as possible," Will said. "Besides, it's starting to rain, and getting caught in a storm at sea is not my idea of a good time."

"I don't think Myotismon knows about these two portals," I said. "But the rain is a concern."

"He probably doesn't, but there's no reason to leave this one open any longer than we have to," Will said.

"Good point. Let's get going then," I said, looking toward the raft.

The tide was low, so the raft was entirely on the beach. It was tied up to a nearby tree stump by a single rope, which we rolled up and set next to the mast so that we wouldn't lose it. It took all four of us to push it across the sand to the water. Once we had it in, we all got on board.

"Izzy said the currents should carry us straight to the island," I explained. "We don't even need to unfurl the sail."

"Great, did he say anything about how long it will take?" Will asked.

"He said it won't take more than a half hour. The current is pretty fast. Why, do you get seasick?" I asked him.

"Never. Every year my family goes to a lake in Kentucky where we own a cabin and a few boats. We spend a week just hanging out with friends on the lake. I love the water," Will said with a smile.

"Are you a good swimmer?" I asked him.

"Yeah, really good. Didn't I tell you guys that I went to nationals for the butterfly?" Will asked.

"You might of, I'm not sure," I replied.

"That's how my group met; we were all at the national championships for swimming, in our age groups, of course," Will explained.

"Then you could have just swam to the island yourself," Gatomon laughed.

"Maybe I should try. I haven't been in the pool in a few days now," Will grinned.

"I bet you that . . ." Drakamon began, but he stopped. "Do you smell something?"

Gatomon sniffed the air. "Yeah, I do," she said as she continued to sniff. Then her eyes suddenly went wide as she realized what it was. "Megaseadramon!"


	17. Sea Storm

Chapter 17: Sea Storm

"Are we there yet?" Gomamon complained.

"Just a few more minutes," I reassured him.

"How come you don't live closer to the store, Joe?" Gomamon asked me.

"I don't know, ask my parents sometime," I replied.

"But it doesn't make sense to live so far from . . ."

"Gomamon, I don't know why it's so far to the store, but it's out of my control, so please stop asking," I cut him off.

"Alright, sorry, you don't have to get mad about it," he said.

"I'm not mad, Gomamon, I just can't explain everything. I wish I could, but I can't." I glanced over at him for a moment before looking back to the road. "Right now I need to concentrate on driving so I don't get in an accident. It's especially important because you aren't wearing a seat belt again," I nagged at him.

"That thing doesn't fit right, I'm not big enough, you know that Joe," Gomamon said.

"Well perhaps I should get you a baby seat then."

"Don't even joke about it Joe," Gomamon said.

The drive to the store was about fifteen minutes. It wasn't really that bad, except that with how much Gomamon could eat I had to make the trip twice as often.

"What are you doing now, Joe?" Gomamon asked suddenly.

"What do you mean, I'm still driving," I replied.

"No, look at that," Gomamon said, pointing to my chest. I glanced down, and saw a weird blue glow coming from inside of me.

"What on earth is going on? This can only be bad," I said as the light got brighter.

It was almost like the first time I was dragged into the digital world. I felt like I was falling through an abyss, slowly getting dragged against my will into a place that I really didn't want to be. It was a really weird feeling.

The first thing I noticed was that wherever we ended up, it was wet. I looked around o find myself on a raft in the middle of the ocean in a terrible rain storm. Gomamon was right next to me, looking around.

"What the heck happened?" he asked.

"Joe! Gomamon!" A voice called from behind us. We turned to see Kari. Gatomon and Will were right next to her.

"What happened? Where are we?" I asked. I scanned the raft. "Where's Drakamon?"

"There," Will said, pointing behind me. Gomamon and I turned to see Hydramon locked in battle with Megaseadramon. The five-headed dragon was wrapped around the larger sea serpeant, trying to bite it with all five of its heads, but losing badly to the higher level digimon.

"Lightning Javalin!"

"He's too hungry to digivolve again, he needs help," Will said.

"Gomamon get him!" I said.

"You got it!"

Gomamon digivolve to…..:::::Ikkakumon!

A massive wave from the battle rocked the raft just after Ikkakumon entered the water.

"Harpoon Torpedo!" Ikkakumon cried as he launched his missiles at Megaseadramon. They stunned him but really didn't hurt him. He turned toward Ikkakumon.

"Mega Ice Blast!" The monster screamed as he attacked Ikkakumon.

"Soul Fang!" Hydramon launched a series of energy blasts from its fangs, but to little effect. Another Lightning Javalin knocked him down into the water.

"Kari, they need help!" Gatomon screamed.

"This storm is too rough, you'll never be able to fly in it," Kari said. She was right, the wind was so rough that the rain almost fell sideways. If the sail had been down the wind might have been able to flip the raft on its own.

"Well we've got to do something," Gatomon said. "They can't take on Megaseadramon alone."

"There's not much we can do, Gatomon. I think it's best if we tried to flee," I said. Just then, a Lightning Javalin landed way too close to the raft, sending up an enormous wave that washed over the raft and rocked it badly. I managed to grab onto the mast and hold on, and Gatomon dug her claws into the wood to get a good hold. Will was far enough from the edge to stay on, but Kari was knocked into the water.

"Kari!" Gatomon screamed, running to the side of the raft.

"Hold on, Kari, we'll get you," I yelled as I turned to look for something useful. Will had already pulled off his shoes, and before I could say anything he jumped into the water.

"Oh no, this is bad," I thought, desperately searching for anything useful. Then I saw the rope near the mast. I quickly tied it around the mast, and after removing my shoes to make it easier to swim, I gripped the rope tightly and dove into the water.

The salt water stung my eyes, making it impossible to keep them open for more than a second or so at a time, but I was able to make out their struggling figure under the water. Will had his arm wrapped around Kari, and was trying to drag them both to the surface with the other, but Kari was struggling too much and they were both sinking. I grabbed Will's free hand and shoved the rope into it. He understood immediately and gripped it tightly, as I pulled myself back to the raft with it. Gatomon helped me to climb on, and then we both started to drag the pair up with the rope. Another wave rocked the raft, but holding onto the rope both of us managed to stay on. After one last big pull, their heads broke the surface. They both grabbed the edge of the raft, and Gatomon and I grabbed Kari and dragged her up. We reached for Will, but the raft was again rocked by the battle and the storm, and he lost his grip. He surfaced again a few yards away from the raft. I was ready with the rope again, but he saw the raft and dove underwater. I decided to wait, he apparently figure it would be easier to swim underwater where the waves didn't have as much affect. He popped up again right next to the raft, and all three of us helped pull him on. We scampered to the mast and clung to it tightly.

"Ikkakumon! Hold him off as long as you can!" I yelled to the battling digimon. "Hydramon, push the raft to shore!"

"Ikkakumon can't take on an ultimate by himself!" Will said.

"No, but Hydramon can't help him win. He can stall while we get to safety, then he can escape," I explained quickly.

"I'll do my best!" Ikkakumon called back as he rammed Megaseadramon with his horn. Hydramon swam to the raft and gripped the edge in one of his mouths. He began to push, but suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong, we've got to get out of here!" I told him.

"You're glowing," another head told me. I looked down. The blue light was back, and it was glowing brighter than ever. I didn't understand what it meant until my digivice erupted with light.

Ikkakumon digivolve to...:::::Zudomon!

"What? How'd he do that?" I wondered, staring at Zudomon. It was impossible that he had reached ultimate again. I had given the power of my crest to help defend the world just like everyone else. It didn't seem to make any sense.

"Vulcan's Hammer!" Zudomon bellowed as he struck Megaseadramon squarely on the head with said hammer. Megaseadramon let out a loud screech before trying to wrap itself around Zudomon, but another blow from the hammer knocked it away and sent it crashing down into the water, creating a massive tsunami. Hydramon gripped the raft tightly and lifted it out of the water and high above the enormous wave, but we weren't out of danger yet. Megaseadramon attacked again.

"Lightning Javalin!" the sea serpeant roared. Zudomon used his horn to ground the blast, sending it into the sea.

"Vulcan's Hammer!" Zudomon bellowed again, throwing the colossal hammer at his foe. He scored another direct hit, which sent Megaseadramon crashing down into the sea again. This time the monster didn't come back.

After the sea had settled down a little, Hydramon set the raft back down in the water and, completely exhausted, reverted to Drakamon, who proceeded to collapse on the deck, groaning in pain. Will picked up the injured digimon and held onto him as he returned to the safety of the mast at the middle of the raft. The storm was still blowing fiercely, causing the rain to fly up in our faces as we looked up at Zudomon.

"How on earth did you do that?" I asked him.

"I don't know, Joe. It just happened I guess," he replied as he looked down on our raft. "I think I should get you guys to land now.

"That'd be great, thanks Zudomon!" Kari called out.

"Well, the portal is right here," Will said as we arrived at the TV screen.

"Great. Are you two sure you don't want me to stay? There could be more trouble in the future," I said.

"We'll be alright. We just need to stay away from the water," Kari said.

"But don't you have to cross the sea to get back to the mainland?" GOmamon reminded them.

"I think we'll just have a good breakfast and have Hydramon swim us across," Will said.

"There's still one thing I don't understand. How was Ikkakumon able to digivolve again? Even weirder, how did we end up in the digital world anyways?" I asked.

"I don't know Joe," Gomamon said. "Digivolving must have something to do with your crest, but randomly being sucked into the digital world is just weird."

"Well what were you doing when you were dragged here?" Gatomon asked.

"I was driving to the store to . . . OH NO WHAT HAPPENED TO MY CAR!" I suddenly realized that if I got dragged into the digital world, there was nobody left in my car to drive it. "Oh no, my dad's gonna kill me." I groaned.

"Don't worry Joe, I'm sure he'll understand if you explain that you had to save us," Kari said.

"Yeah, and I'll protect you, Joe!" Gomamon said.

"Gomamon, you're not going to make my goldfish attack him again," I warned him.

"Well, good luck Joe. And thanks for showing up to help us," Will said.

"Oh well. At least everyone is safe now," I sighed. "Don't get into to much trouble you two."

"We won't. Bye Joe!" Kari called after me as I stepped through the portal with Gomamon right behind me.

I needed to find the others. Perhaps Izzy could explain why Ikkakumon had digivolved again. But before that, I needed to find a tow truck.


	18. Waldorf Worldwide

_Author's note: I'm sorry for the long wait. I live in Buffalo, and if you've been watching the news, we've been having some storm trouble, so I haven't been able to update. To make up for it, I'm putting up two chapters today, and hopefully I'll be able to get back onto the chapter-per-day schedule I was working on at the beginning. Thanks for understanding. _

Chapter 18: Waldorf Worldwide

"So, why are we here again, Izzy?" Davis asked.

"Because I've got a job for you to do. It's very important, so I need you to take it seriously, alright?" Izzy responded as he pulled something up on the computer. "This is the web page that I've created for our mission. Here is where we'll log information on the digidestined and organize them for fighting Myotismon's army. Hopefully it will become an expansive online community by which all the digidestined can communicate with each other."

"So what did you need us for?" I asked as I looked at the site.

"Basically Veemon, you two are going to be running the web site. It won't be hard. You just need to update the news page when we give you new information, and moderate the forum that we're starting up. I'll do all the organizing of information and make any modifications that the site needs," Izzy explained.

"Why do we get stuck with the boring job?" Davis asked. "Why can't we go to the digital world? Kari's got to be tired by now."

"They've only been there for four days, and they've said that they're fine. Besides, we need someone to manage the basic stuff on the site, and we all decided that you'd be perfect for the job!" Izzy laughed a little bit before handing him a sheet of paper. "Here's your password and username so that you can access the controls for the site. Remember, your only jobs are moderating the forum I've set up and updating the news. I'll fix anything else if there's a problem."

"Can I change my screen name?" Davis asked.

"Why would you want to?" I tried to jump up to see the paper.

"Because it's Waldorf," Davis said.

"Oh, yeah, Tai thought that would be perfect for you, Davis," Izzy said. "Now come on, we've got to meet everyone at the school in ten minutes. If you've got any questions about the site, email me later," Izzy said as he shut down the computer and grabbed his bag.

We had to practically run in order to make it to the school on time. We were the last ones to arrive in the computer lab, as usual, but Izzy was mad that we'd held him up and made him late too.

"Jeez, what took you Izzy?" Joe asked.

"These two did," Izzy said, indication Davis and me.

"Alright, well maybe you can explain what happened to Joe," Matt said. "It's really wacky."

"I'll give it a shot, what happened?" Izzy asked.

"Well, I was driving to the store, and I suddenly began to glow, then I was dragged into the digital world. Kari and Will were on a raft in the middle of a storm, and were being attacked by Megaseadramon. We were going to flee, but then Ikkakumon digivolved to Zudomon! It was really weird," Joe quickly explained.

"He digivolve to ultimate? Hat's impossible without the crests," Izzy said.

"That's what we thought too, but I did," Gomamon said.

"That's a really weird story," Izzy thought for a few seconds. "I really have no idea. Perhaps we should talk to Jennai about it," he suggested.

"Well don't think too long on it. We've got more important things to worry about right now," Tai said.

"Yeah, like how we're going to find all these other digidestined," Sora said. "It's not like there's a phone book of them."

"I'd pretty much say we're trying to make the phone book," TK said. Suddenly there was a knock at the door. Everyone was still.

"Who is it?" Izzy asked.

"It's Mimi, who did you think?" Came the voice from the other side of the door. Matt walked over and opened it. Mimi walked in with a big smile on her face.

"Hi everyone! It's so nice to see you all again." Mimi smiled. A loud jumble of hellos followed.

"Alright, so someone fill me in on what we're up to," Mimi said as she sat down.

"Well, Kari and Will are in the digital world closing portals to the real world with Will's crest. The rest of us are trying to prepare for the inevitable failure of this strategy over the course of the next few weeks by gathering as many digidestined as we can for our cause," Izzy explained.

"Oh, I should call Michael. He can get the rest of his group to come help too, I bet," Mimi said excitedly.

"That's a start, but we'll need a lot more if we're . . . hold on I've got some mail from Will," Izzy said as he looked at the screen.

_Hi Izzy, it's Will. You want to know something weird? I never understood why ancient peoples thought that women would slow down armies until now. _

"Well that was about as clear as mud," Izzy said.

"Is he complaining that Kari is slowing him down?" Tai asked.

"Hey, I've got mail from Kari!" Yolei said suddenly. She read the message quickly to herself, and then burst into a fit of laughter.

"What is it Yolei?" Cody asked.

"Nothing Cody. Don't worry about it," Yolei said as she pulled Sora and Mimi over to look at the email. They both laughed at whatever it said.

"Hey, mind clueing the rest of us in? What's so funny?" Matt insisted.

"It really isn't that big of a problem, Matt," Sora said. "We'll handle it, don't worry."

"I'll be right back," Yolei said as she ran out of the room. The rest of us just looked at each other, still not knowing what was so funny.

"Alright, let's just forget about it and get back on topic," Joe said.

"Good idea," Izzy agreed. "Now, this is going to come down to us basically spamming internet chat boards with information about digivices. Hopefully anyone who has a digivice will use the links to go to our web page and sign up. It's going to be impossible to keep this a secret, but we really have no other choice. Without the ability to reach ultimate level, our digimon can't compete with Myotismon, and we need to gather as many digimon as possible."

"Wait a second Izzy, remember Gomamon?" Joe said.

"We can't rely on something we don't understand like that. As soon as we're done here, I'm going to send an email to Jennai and ask him about it. In the meantime this is our only strategy," Izzy replied.

"Alright Izzy, you just email us what we need to put up and we'll start spamming away!" Tai said enthusiastically.

Unfortunately, the spam idea didn't work very well. After two days we had hardly managed to gather anybody. Mimi came through on her promise to recruit Michael and his friends, but other than him and the three he signed up with him (Will was a fifth member of their group and the sixth member hadn't signed up) we had about three kids. It was a bad start, to say the least.

"What's up Izzy?" Davis asked as him and I walked into his room with two backpacks full of supplies.

"Unfortunately nothing. We've hardly got any members, and it doesn't look likely that we'll get more any time soon," Izzy said sadly. "Anyways, did you two bring the supplies?"

"Of course we did!" Davis said. "So when do we leave?"

"Right now, they're waiting for you just on the other side of the portal, and then they're heading to another portal to close it. Any time you're ready to go, go," Izzy said.

"Alright, let's go, Veemon," Davis said.

"I'm right behind ya, Davis!" I replied as he opened the portal. We both jumped through. Davis always complains that being downloaded feels funny, but it really doesn't. Maybe it's different because I'm made of data instead of DNA or whatever they call it.

"What took you so long?" Gatomon asked as soon as we got there. "We've been waiting."

"We were talking to Izzy," Davis said. "Here's the stuff," he said as he handed Kari the backpack.

"Thanks Davis," she said. I gave mine to Will, who handed me the empty one he had been lugging around.

"Hey, do you guys mind if we follow you to the next portal, just to catch up," Davis said.

"Knock yourself out, as long as Izzy doesn't need you," Will said.

"Alright, which way is it?" Davis asked.

"This way," Will said as he started down the path through the forest.

"Why does it seem like we're always in a forest, a desert, or the ocean?" I pondered.

"Probably because that makes up most of the digital world, silly," Gatomon responded.

"There's more than that here," Kari said. "We've been in mountains and caves and cities here too."

"There are cities here?" Drakamon asked. "We never went to any cities."

"There are a few, mostly machine digimon live in them," Kari said.

"Hey, just how far away is this portal?" Davis asked.

"Not far, maybe five minutes if we keep this pace," Will said.

Gatomon started looking around in the trees. Kari looked at her. "Is something wrong, Gatomon?"

"No, I just thought I heard . . . Look out!" And she tackled Kari to the ground as a sword flew past us. A digimon appeared out of the trees, brandishing several swords. It was about seven feet tall with a metal, very human-like body, but smooth all over and flexible. It had eight sheaths strapped to its back, four facing each direction. All held swords, and he held four more in his two hands, gripping two in each hand so that the blades faced in opposite directions.

"That's Megaswordmon," Drakamon said, "He's a mega level that uses his Multi-Sword and Blade Rain attacks to slice enemies to pieces. I bet he's one of Myotismon's servants."  
"You couldn't be more right," a voice boomed from behind the monster. Myotismon stepped out of the trees, guarded by another Megaswordmon. "Now, will you all just give up, or will I have to do this the hard way."

"Davis, I think now would be a great time to RUN!" I yelled. We all took off, heading for the portal. The Megaswordmon were right on our tail.

"What are we gonna do? We can't just lead them right to the portal!" Kari said.

"I know, I'm thinking," Will said.

"They're gaining on us!" I called out.

"Alright, everyone go through the portal," Will said. "When we get to the other side, we'll just smash the computer and he won't be able to follow us." Drakamon gave him a worried look.

"Are you sure that's gonna work?" I asked him.

"Absolutely, now hurry up!" Will called. We broke out of the forest into a large open field. Off in the distance we could see the portal, growing slowly closer.

"Kari, Davis, go through and get ready to smash the computer as soon as I get through," Will said as he dropped back from us a bit. The Megaswordmon had almost caught up.

"Alright, hurry up," Kari replied as she and Gatomon passed through the portal.

"Veemon, you get ready to smash that thing," Davis said as he pushed me forward into the portal. He followed right away. We appeared in Izzy's room and I scrambled to my feet, ready to blast the computer.

"What's going on?" Izzy demanded.

"Sorry Izzy, but your computer's about to be blasted," Davis said. I lowered my head, ready to attack as soon as they got through. The only problem is that they never came through.

"Where, are they?" Kari said after about thirty seconds had passed.

"Would you please explain what's going on to me?" Izzy said, rather annoyed.

"We were being chased by Myotismon, and Will said that we'd escape through the portal and then smash the computer so that they couldn't go through it," Davis explained.

"But, that wouldn't work. The portal would just be re-routed to another computer," Izzy said. Then he suddenly got a knowing look on his face. "Oh no."

"What is it Izzy?" Gatomon asked.

"I don't think Will ever intended to go through the portal. I think he told you guys to smash the computer just so that you'd go through, and then he closed it," Izzy explained. There was a stunned silence as he looked at the screen. "Yeah, it's closed from that side. He knew that smashing the computer wouldn't work; he made that up so that you guys wouldn't try to stay with him."

"He . . . did?" Kari was getting a sick look on her face. "Does that mean . . . he's . . .?"

"I, I don't know," Izzy said, slumping down in the chair.

"We've gotta go back for him!" Davis yelled.

"That's the last thing we should do. By now Myotismon's already caught him, and we'd only be putting ourselves in danger," Izzy said.

Kari was leaning on the desk because she was losing her balance. Gatomon jumped up on the desk and put a paw on her back to calm her down.

"There's gotta be something we can do!" Davis yelled.

"Here," Izzy said, handing him a cell phone. "Call Yolei, Ken, Cody, Matt, and TK. I'll call everyone else on my home phone. We need to have an emergency meeting."

Davis snatched up the phone and hurriedly dialed. We all feared the worst, and had good reason to. The only chance was if Drakamon managed to digivolve to Skullhydramon and fly away, but that would only escape the Megaswordmon, Myotismon could fly. I looked over at Kari, who was now sitting on the floor, sobbing, with all the color drained from her face. "They're dead, Gatomon. They're dead . . ."


	19. The Signal

Chapter 19: The Signal

". . . and then we called everyone," Izzy finished relaying the story to us. There was a long silence, in which the fear was written clearly across everyone's face. I sat on the bed, holding my sister and trying to calm her down. Everyone was trying to be brave, but it must have been harder for her, since she knew him the best. We were all a little sick at the thought of what Myotismon had most likely done.

"So what's next?" Matt said after the long silence.

"Well, Will did manage to close that portal, which means Myotismon still doesn't have one. Unfortunately, our only option at this point seems to be a direct assault on Myotismon himself, but that's fairly likely to fail. I believe we should meet with Jennai and ask him for help. Perhaps he can contact Azulongmon and get us some extra firepower," Izzy said.

I looked up to him. "Well, direct attack is an absolute last option. Let's try to meet with Jennai," I said.

"Alright, let me try to . . . huh? What's this?" Izzy said, pulling up a different window.

"What is it Izzy?" Tentomon asked.

"The tracker window was blinking and," he paused, making sure he was interpreting it correctly. "I'm getting a signal! It's from Will's digivice!"

Everyone was on their feet instantly, except for me and Kari. She just buried her head in my shoulder and started crying again.

"The digivice would stop working if he was dead. The fact that I'm getting a signal means he's not. Now if I can trace it . . . alright, it's coming from Myotismon's castle. It appears that he only captured Will and Drakamon," Izzy said. Everyone breathed a massive sigh of relief.

"But that doesn't really make sense, Izzy," Matt started. "What reason could Myotismon possibly have for not killing him?"

"I'd guess he plans to set a trap for us," Sora said.

"He has no reason to," Ken began. "He's already got us outmatched and he knows that. He doesn't need to trap us, as soon as he can get to the real world he can destroy us, he has no reason to try and trap us."

"Well, he's not able to get to the real world, so perhaps he wants to try and destroy us sooner. He's probably not sure how soon he can get to the real world, and so he wants us to come to him anyways," Matt said.

"It doesn't make sense that he is paying attention to us at all. Like Ken said, he's got us beat, he's not afraid of us, and he knows that the smartest thing we can do is wait here for him. Plus, leaving Will alive risks Will escaping and causing damage to his operation. There is absolutely no logical reason why he would keep Will alive," Izzy said.

"Maybe Myotismon's taking pity on him because the crest revived him," TK suggested.

"Possible, but unlikely," Izzy said again. "I seriously doubt that Myotismon would take pity on anybody."

"Well, then there's only one thing we can do, try to rescue him!" I declared. Kari looked up at me finally, but was still crying.

"Tai, don't," she said. "Don't bother. There's something wrong." She looked down again. "You just said, there's no reason for Myotismon to keep him alive. It's just a glitch in the program or something."

We were all surprised to hear Kari say something like that. "Kari, you can't really think that. As long as there's a chance that he's alive, we've got to . . ."

"TAI STOP IT!" she screamed in my face, leaping up. "He's dead. He just . . . I . . ." she broke down again, and ran out of the room.

"Kari? Kari wait," Gatomon said, following her. Everyone else just stared after her. There was another really long, strained silence.

"Shouldn't you go after her, Tai?" Mimi asked.

"No, I think she just needs some time alone," I said. I don't know hat had happened that made Kari snap like that. Usually she always looked on the bright side of a situation. I was worried sick, but I knew she needed some time to herself. "Alright, so how are we going to free Will?"

"Well, from here I can only get a general location, but if we can get close enough to the castle, I should be able to pinpoint where he is," Izzy said.

"If you can find him, Imperialdramon can get him out," Ken said. "He's fast enough to dart in, blast through any doors or walls in his way, and dart out. If we're fast enough we won't have to worry about guards."

"Not the subtlest of strategies, but I suppose it will work," Joe said.

"Well, it will only work if we know exactly where Will is. Any time wasted searching for him is more time for guards to surround us," Ken said.

"Leave that to me," Izzy said. "Like I said, in the digital world, I can pinpoint his location."

"Alright, then we'd best go right now," I said. "Ken and Davis will go with Imperialdramon into the castle. Izzy will stay hidden and guide them with his computer. Agumon and I will come too, just so that we can help Tentomon keep watch for Izzy while he works on his computer."

"Alright, sounds like a plan," Davis said. "You ready Veemon?"

"Absolutely," the blue dragon replied.

"Let's get going then, there's no time to lose!" Ken said. He opened the portal, and the eight of us went through.

We appeared a reasonable distance from the castle, hoping not to be spotted. Izzy immediately opened up his laptop and began to hack into the digital world's mainframe.

"Alright, I've routed the data for the castle into my digivice's locator. This should provide a three dimensional map of the castle with the signal from Will's digivice," Izzy explained. "Prodigius!"

"What is it Izzy?" Tentomon asked.

"I've got a lock on it. Will is in the same room that we found the cards in. We should be able to bust right through the wall and grab him," Izzy said.

"Alright, let's get started," Veemon said.

Veemon digivolve to…..:::::Exveemon!

Wormmon digivolve to…..:::::Stingmon!

Exveemon, Stingmon, digivolve to…..:::::Paildramon!

Paildramon mega digivolve to…..:::::Imperialdramon!

"Alright, we're heading up there," Ken said from on top of Imperialdramon. We could only watch as the massive monster approached the castle wall, they slowly flew in and hovered by the window for a few seconds, peering inside to see if Will was away from the wall. They were there for almost a minute before They sent back a message through the digivices.

"We can't see him. He's not in this room." Davis said through the link.

"What do you mean, I've got a lock on him, he should be in the dead center of it," Izzy replied.

"Well, he's not anywhere in it. We can see every corner of the room, and he's not there," Ken said. They flew back over to us.

"How can he not be there?" Agumon asked.

"I don't know, unless Myotismon is somehow distorting the signal." Izzy said.

"Well, then there's only one option," Davis began, fire in his eyes. "We saw the dungeons when Gatomon led us through there before. Will must be in the dungeons. We'll bust right through the front door, race down there, grab him, and race out before they know what hit 'em!"

"That's way too dangerous. We can't be sure where exactly he is, and if you don't find him right away you won't be able to make it back out before some of Myotismon's megas find you. We can't afford to get in a fight."

"Relax," Ken said. "We'll take one quick pass through the dungeon and if we don't see him, we'll bolt, okay?"

"I'm not sure I like that idea. Plus I won't be able to guide you if there's something that is messing up the signals from the digivices," Izzy said.

"Give it a shot," I said. Izzy gave me a funny look. "I don't know if it's smart, but I believe that Davis and Ken can do it, and that they'll know when it's time to get out of there. We've been running away an awful lot lately, let's play aggressive for once and see how it turns out."

"Alright, thanks Tai!" Davis said. "We won't let you down." And with that, they took off for the castle. Imperialdramon flew straight through the front door, and the only thing left for us to do was wait.

"Tai, look at this," Izzy said, calling me over to the computer.

"What is it?" I asked, looking at the screen.

"I seem to be tracking Davis' and Ken's digivices just fine. That can only mean one thing," Izzy said.

"What's that?" Agumon asked.

"Will might not be in that room, but his digivice is!" Izzy proclaimed.

"That's not good. If he doesn't have it then we've got a serious problem even if we can rescue him." I said.

"Speaking of rescuing, I think Imperialdramon has been gone an awful long time, don't you?" Tentomon said. Almost as if on cue, Imperialdramon smashed through a wall in the side of the castle. They were immediately followed by a shower of fire blasts coming from guards inside the castle. They dove like lightning toward us.

"Get on, quick!" Ken yelled. We climbed on and were off like lightning. I looked around the bubble, but I didn't see Will or Drakamon.

"You couldn't find them?" I asked.

"No, we couldn't," Ken said. "We checked every dungeon, but they just weren't there."

"I think we lost 'em," Davis said, looking back for pursuers.

"Alright, Imperialdramon, we need to head for a portal a good distance away, just to make sure that Myotismon can't follow us to it," Izzy said.

"Kari's not going to be happy when she hears that we didn't find them," I said, slumping down.

"Don't worry Tai, we'll find them eventually," Izzy assured me. I could only hope he was right.


	20. Hidden Power

Chapter 20: Hidden Power

I tried my best to summon up whatever courage I might have had left. It wasn't easy, though, being trapped in a tiny room with no windows for light, or for that matter even torches. It was pitch black during the night, and almost as dark during the day. The two were becoming indistinguishable. But the thing that really drained my courage was the fact that I couldn't digivolve. Myotismon had taken Will's digivice and hidden it somewhere else in the castle. Not that we could have looked for it. I found it kind of strange that he had left Will his crest. I suppose that without the digivice, the crest was useless, but it didn't really make sense to me at first. I don't think it made sense to Will either.

"C'mon, Will. We've been in tougher spots than this," I tried to cheer him up. "Remember when we were off in that forest and Shark came and found us?"

"Shark's not coming, Drakamon. He has no idea where we are," Will said. He was staring at the tag and crest, kneeding it between his fingers.

"Well maybe not Shark, but someone will come," I said again.

"I doubt that. What reason would they have?" Will still didn't look up.

"Perhaps Kari will come," I said, hoping Will would cheer up. He didn't respond at all. He just kept staring at the crest. I laid my head down and tried to get some sleep.

"I wonder what would happen if I just broke it," Will said. I looked up.

"Broke what?" I questioned.

"The crest," he said, gripping an end of it with each hand.

"No! Will you can't do that!" I said, leaping up.

"Well why not. This thing is nothing but trouble. It's only caused pain," Will moaned.

"It's kept Myotismon out of the real world," I said.

"It also brought him back to life in the first place," Will replied. "And it's only going to continue to be a problem. If I just break it, then the problem's solved." He looked so sad, I almost couldn't respond. He began to try and bend the crest, and I couldn't think of any way to stop him. But suddenly the door opened and light flooded into the room. Will let the crest dangle again.

"Well, have you enjoyed your stay?" Myotismon laughed. Will slowly stood, keeping his eyes closed. I just stared at the vampire, trying my best to look frightening. It didn't help that I was shaking.

"I'm sure you're both wondering why you're still alive. It wouldn't make much sense for you to be, now would it?" the undead digimon grinned.

"You plan on using us as bait, right?" Will asked quietly.

"Not at all. I am actually interested in your crest, child," Myotismon grinned. "You see, I have an experiment that I would like to try out."

"What kind of experiment?" I demanded as bravely as I could.

"Well, as you know, that crest brought me back into being here in the digital world. I want to know more about it. But before I go on, I should explain something to you. The crests, all of them, have incredible powers. These powers extend far beyond just digivolution. You and your pathetic friends haven't the slightest idea how truly powerful your crests are. If even one of you discovered how to harness the true strength imbedded in your crests, I doubt I would be able to defeat you. However, none of you are even close to achieving that level of understanding. I, however, am beginning to understand the true nature of your crests, and you are going to help me. I am going to study your crest, learn what gives it strength, and then I will be able to steal the power of all of the crests for myself."

"But the other crests are already destroyed," Will said. "They're being used to protect the barrier, only dark crests aren't."

"Ah, see how little you know? Those frail objects which you call tags and crests are nothing more than basic tools to help you harness the energy. Even though the crests fuel the barrier between the worlds, their power is still accessible to those who understand how. And now, with your help, I will harness their power for myself!"

"Spirit Fang!" I launched a duel blast of energy from my fangs, but he swatted it away like a fly.

"You need to know when you are beaten, child," he said as he glared at me. "Crimson Lightning!" The blast knocked me into the back wall of the room. Pain shot through my entire body, and the room seemed to bend and warp and change colors around me. I fell on the ground, barely twitching. Will ran over and picked me up.

"You both are pathetic fools. Just like all of your friends, you lack the common sense to know when you're beaten," he said condescendingly as he walked away and slammed the door shut, leaving us once again in the darkness.

"Are you alright?" Will asked as he held me close.

"I'll be fine," I managed to choke out. Will looked at his crest again.

"I guess it was stupid to think that I could fix everything that easily," he said sadly. "Why'd we have to get stuck with this stupid thing," he screamed as he let his head fall back against the wall.

"I don't know Will, but we've got to do something with it now. Myotismon said that it has incredible powers. We just need to find them before he does," I said.

"It probably has the power to kill all life within twenty miles," Will said.

"C'mon Will, it might be able to help us. What can it do right now?" I asked.

"It can make you digivolve to ultimate, and, well, but we don't have the digivice, so that can't work," Will said.

"Yeah," I said, trying to think of some way out. I stared up at Will. He hadn't looked this sad since we had been alone in that forest so many years ago. I could remember what was going through my mind back then, and right now I felt almost as bad as I had those three years ago. But Will's eyes suddenly lit up, almost as if he had figured out some great mystery. He hadn't, but he had thought of something.

"You know what else this crest can do, Drakamon?" he asked, sounding much better.

"What?" I inquired, unsure of what he was thinking.

"Open a gate to the Dark Ocean," Will said slowly, almost not believing it. It suddenly dawned on me what he meant. We had an escape route the entire time, and didn't know it!

"Let's go!" I said, temporarily forgetting my pain and jumping up, which quickly reminded me of it. "Ow!"

"Careful, okay. Try not to move if you don't have to. We still don't have the digivice."

"Will, we can worry about that later. For one thing, sitting in this room isn't helping anybody, except maybe Myotismon. Second, we've got to tell everyone what he just told us about the crests. I mean, this explains why Gomamon digivolved to Zudomon! Or at least, it might. The digivice is the least of our worries right now. Well, maybe not the least, but it's small compared to other stuff we could be worrying about!" I was shaking again, but now with excitement. I guess I get excited really easily.

"Alright, I guess getting out of here is priority number one," Will said. He gripped the crest tightly.

"For all the trouble that thing causes, it sure saves us an awful lot," I said.

"Once again, Drakamon, we wouldn't need saving if it didn't cause trouble," Will said. "I guess for now it's useful, though," and with that, the darkness intensified, and the physical form of the room began to slip away. Slowly, the dark light inside the world of the Dark Ocean filled our vision. The grays and blacks, while not exciting colors, were a welcome respite from the pitch dark room which had been our home for some unknown amount of time.

We were on a sand bar; somewhere out in the middle of the ocean. Far away, we could see the flicker of a black beam of light, probably the light house, far away. The calm, motionless ocean surrounded us, but it didn't even seem that dark this time. It seemed like it was sad, and lonely, like it had lost something that it could never find again. I don't know if it's possible for oceans to feel things, but that day, the ocean seemed to radiate sadness.

"Alright Will, let's go home," I said, feeling that we had spent enough time marveling at the strange colorless landscape.

"Wait," Will said. He was staring at the small flicker of light across the water. "I think I need to stay for a little while."

"What are you talking about?" I asked him.

"I don't know, I just feel like . . . I don't know. I need to see the light house. There's something there that I need to do, or something."

"We can't come back later?" I asked, really wanting to get home.

"Do you think you're okay enough to swim?" Will asked. I twisted my body around a little, testing my muscles. The pain was subsiding. Also, it would be easier for me to swim, with the water supporting most of my weight.

"Yeah, I guess," I said. "Do we have to?"

Will didn't respond. He slipped off his shoes and shoved them into his pack, and then did the same with his sweater and shirt, leaving his jeans on, and the crest, dangling next to the small cross pendant that was a gift from his mother, who was still in America with his brother and sister.

He turned back to me, trying to discern whether or not I really wanted to go. I just smiled. I figured he had to have a good reason for doing this.

"Let's get going," he said as he started to wade out into the ocean. I followed quickly, sliding into the freezing cold water. We had never swum in the Dark Ocean before, but it certainly seemed calm enough, and Will was a good swimmer. The water, despite being icy cold, felt good on my aching body, and I began to test my muscles more and more as the pain subsided. Will lost track of the ocean floor and began swimming methodically toward the black light. I followed close behind, hoping that when we got there, we'd be able to take a break from adventuring, even just a short one.


	21. Dark Ocean

Chapter 21: The Dark Ocean

_Life it seems, will fade away, Drifting farther every day  
Getting lost within myself, Nothing matters no one else  
I have lost the will to live, Simply nothing more to give  
There is nothing more for me, Need the end to set me free _

Things are not what they used to be, Missing one inside of me  
Deathly lost, this cant be real, Cannot stand this hell I feel  
Emptiness is filling me, To the point of agony  
Growing darkness taking dawn, I was me, but now he's gone

No one but me can save myself, but its too late  
Now I cant think, think why I should even try  
Yesterday seems as though it never existed  
Death greets me warm, now I will just say good-bye

Tai kept walking in to my room, giving me updates on how close they were to finding Will. Of course, none of it mattered. I was too sure that he was dead. I had drifted aimlessly through the past three days, completely convinced that I had done something wrong. I wondered why I hadn't realized that he was giving himself up. I thought I could have stopped him, if only I hadn't been so stupid. And now he was gone, and Myotismon was leading everyone on a wild goose chase for him in the digital world. So I went to school, just like normal, sat through my classes, taking notes robotically, went home, did homework, again robotically, then laid on my bed, staring at the ceiling and wondering how I could have been so dumb. It was my fault that he was gone now. I had encouraged him to keep trying to close the portals, I had escaped when he stayed behind to protect everyone, and now I had to live with the fact that I had failed him. He had something he was trying to figure out, something about the sand, and I couldn't help him any more.

Gatomon stayed with me most of the time, but she wasn't much help. She kept on telling me that it wasn't my fault, and that Will was still alive, just like Tai and everyone else. It only made me feel worse. The entire time I didn't even realize what was happening, until I fell asleep one afternoon.

I dreamed that I was walking down a street. It was snowing outside, in big, wet flakes. There were no cars on the street. I was a simple, two lane road, with big trees along the edges. The snow was catching on the tree branches, and it made them look almost beautiful, as they bent down under the weight of the snow. I walked down this street, unsure of where I was or why I was there. One of the tree branches broke under the weight of the snow, and it fell down into the road. I stared at it, wondering why it had fallen, when none of the others did. Was it especially weak? Did too much snow fall on it? How could more snow fall on it than the other branches? It was an odd thing to question, but dreams are odd things in themselves. Nevertheless, I continued to watch the branch as the snow again began to pile up on it in the road. The snow wasn't sticking to the road. Apparently the road had been salted, because the snow all melted when it reached the road. This one branch, however, kept some of the snow off of the road, and that snow was piling up on top of it. The branch that had collapsed under the weight of the snow now seemed to be a refuge for it. For some reason, it surprised me. Now I wondered why this branch was saving the snow, when the snow had apparently killed it. Of course, it didn't have a choice. It fell in the road, and the snow started falling on it. But why did it have to work that way? It was some kind of cruel injustice that the snow could kill this branch off and then use it as a refuge from the salty street. I started to become angry at the snow, for showing so much indifference to this branch. Something in me just wanted to grab the branch and shake all of the snow off of it, perhaps just to give the branch that one last dignity. I walked over to the branch and bent down next to it. It was one of the oddest sights I had ever seen. For some reason, the idea jumped into my head that the snow wasn't showing the branch indifference, but the branch was indifferent to the snow. The branch didn't care what the snow did to it, it was still there to catch the snow, and save it from the road, just like it had been when it was still on the tree. The branch continued to protect the snow, even though the snow had knocked it down. Once again I found myself amazed at what seemed like such a simple phenomenon. Then the dream began to disappear, fading away into blackness, leaving me to wonder at the branch sitting on the street collecting snow.

I awoke slowly, unsure of where I was. I somehow felt different from when I went to sleep. Slowly, I opened my eyes, but my ceiling did not greet me. Instead, a bleak gray sky did. I brushed my hand along the sand next to me. It took me a second to realize that I was lying on sand, staring up at the sky. I slowly sat up, and I was greeted by a massive, black ocean. It slowly dawned on me that somehow I had slipped into the Dark Ocean. Looking to my right, I saw the lighthouse, shining its black beam ever seaward. I turned my gaze back to the ocean. It was o dark, and so big. It seemed to me that it must be endless. An endless body of water encompassing all the sorrow in the world. It reminded me of Apocalymon. He was made up of the sorrow and pain in the digital world, and this ocean now seemed to be a reincarnation of him. I closed my eyes and turned away. I longed to recall the dream, with the branch that caught the snow even though it didn't seem logical to. But that dream seemed far away, and I still didn't understand why it was. There was something missing from the dream, and I couldn't find it. I opened my eyes again to look at the sand. Will had contemplated the sand when he had brought me here. He wanted to know why it landed where it did. I picked up a little bit in my hand, and dropped it, watching the grains scatter about the beach. I suddenly wanted to find the answer to Will's question, almost as if it would be a last tribute to him. I wanted to know what controlled the sand, and why it ended up there. I felt like I had to understand it. I had a duty to Will, to find out what, and where, and why, whatever I could about the sand. And I'd find out about the branch too, if I could. Why it kept on catching the snow. Perhaps they were related. Perhaps the branch knew why the sand falls the way it does, and that's why it kept on catching the snow. I resolved not to leave that spot until I understood it all, the sand, the snow, the branch, everything.

But I couldn't keep that promise. As soon as I made it, I was relieved of it, almost as if by fate, like all I had to do was make that promise and everything would be okay again. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something near the water by the lighthouse. I turned slowly, and saw Will, climbing up out of the water, with Drakamon trailing behind. I almost thought that it had to be a mirage, or perhaps some kind of dream again. Will sat down and reached into his pack. He pulled his shirt and sweater out of it and pulled them on, and then put on his shoes. Forgetting the promise I had just made to myself, I stood up and began to slowly walk over to them. As I got closer I became increasingly sure that it was them, and my pace quickened, until I was practically running. I was only about a hundred feet away when he noticed me. He watched as I ran toward him. I was almost crying. As soon as I got there I wrapped him up in my arms and squeezed him tight. He was really there!

"Uh, Kari, you're suffocating me," he squeaked out. I let go of him. I hadn't realized how hard I'd been squeezing.

"Sorry," I said with tears still in my eyes. "I just thought, I thought you were dead." I guess Will understood, because he hugged me this time, and I was happy to lean on him and cry for a minute or so, even though he was soaking wet.

We finally released each other, and I stared at him for another few seconds. "How'd you get away?" I asked, still barely able to believe he was there.

"That's a long story. I'll explain it later," he said. "How did you get here?" he asked. His question woke me from my long reverie. It was as if I hadn't really understood that I was in the Dark Ocean before, and I suddenly realized that I had let myself slip here in my despair.

"I . . ." I couldn't seem to answer the question, and it was because I was now asking it of myself. I had brought myself here by refusing to believe, and forgetting hope.

"I guess I haven't been thinking very clearly lately," I said. "I forgot some of the things my friend taught me."

Will just smiled at me. "You know what; I had the same problem a little while ago. It's not fixed yet, but I'm working on it."

"How about we fix it together?" I asked.

"That sounds like a good idea," Will said. "I think it's time we went back to our world." I just smiled and nodded. Will pulled out the dark crest again, and gripped my hand as Drakamon wrapped around his leg. Slowly, the Dark Ocean began to fade into blackness.


	22. Find That Digivice!

Chapter 22: Find That Digivice!

I'm not really sure what I was feeling during those few days. It was pretty obvious what Kari was feeling, but everyone else seemed almost cold. I guess they were trying to put on a brave face. I couldn't blame them; I was trying to act strong as well. Besides, it wasn't like we had never been separated before. Izzy was confident that the signal from Will's digivice meant he had to be alive, and I believed him. At least, I tried to. In all honesty, I really wasn't sure if Izzy was right. We'd certainly be tricked before, and he had no real reason to believe that the digivice's signal meant that Will was alive.

"Cheer up TK! Izzy will be back soon," Patamon said. Izzy had gone into the digital world again, along with Sora and my brother, to try and figure out a way to locate Will within the castle. It was a fairly hopeless mission, seeing as Imperialdramon had already failed to find him actually being in the castle, but Izzy was hoping that he had missed some crucial detail. I guess that's what we've been reduced to. Hope.

"Yeah, but I don't think they'll find anything. They've scoured the castle twice already and still have no idea where he is," I said.

"But we can't give up, TK. We never have before," Patamon replied.

"I know, Patamon. There's always hope. But sometimes it just seems so far away," I sighed.

"It was far away when we fought Piedmon, remember?" Patamon reminded me.

"Yeah, you're right Patamon. As long as there's any hope at all, we have to keep trying," I said, my confidence in Izzy's mission somewhat restored.

It always amazes me how just as soon as I decide that I can't stop believing, something good happens. The words had barely left my mouth when the far corner of the lab started warping and twisting into darkness. The darkness slowly began to take forms, and as the light returned and filled the corner with color once again, I saw Kari standing there with Will and Drakamon. Will was soaking wet, but he was alive.

I jumped up quickly. "Kari, you found him?" I asked, though the answer was rather obvious.

"I guess," Kari said, smiling.

"But how'd you get out of the castle?" Patamon asked.

"My crest can open gates to the Dark Ocean, so I opened a gate in the little room I was in and went through," Will explained. "I found Kari on the beach there."

I suddenly looked at Kari. Had she really slipped into the Dark Ocean again?

"I'm sorry TK, I guess I forgot everything we've learned," she said. "I'll try harder not to let my emotions get to me."

"Don't worry about it, Kari. Right now the most important thing is that everybody's safe," I said. "Tai, Matt, and Izzy are in the digital world right now, but they should be back soon. I'm gonna call everyone and have them come in."

Needless to say, everyone was ecstatic to find out that Will had escaped. The missing digivice was a dilemma, but for now we were just glad to have him and Drakamon back safely.

"This shouldn't be too much of a problem," Tai said. "We located the digivice once, and we'll be able to again."

"Well, I'm not sure it'll be that easy. Myotismon knows by now that Will escaped, and I'm sure he doesn't want to lose the digivice. I think there's a good chance that he's carrying it himself nowadays," Izzy replied.

"So what are we supposed to do, steal it right off of him?" I asked.

"I think we may have to fight him, TK," Matt said.

"In that case, I think I know something that will help," Will said.

"Let's hear it," Joe said.

"Alright. When I was still in the castle, Myotismon told me a lot about the crests. He says that everyone still has their strength, even though the barrier is up. He said that the crests possess incredible powers which none of us understand. I think that if we could learn to use those powers, we'd be able to beat him," Will said.

"What do you mean 'powers'?" Sora asked.

"Well, I'm not sure if I'm right, but I think what happened to Joe might be related. He and Gomamon were dragged into the digital world to save Kari and I, and Gomamon digivolved all the way to Zudomon. I think his crest did all that. But mine's acted funny sometimes too. It can open gates to the Dark Ocean, and close gates to the digital world," Will explained.

"I suppose it's possible that these are manifestations of some kind of power trapped within the crests," Izzy said. "There's no way to be sure, though, and until we're sure, I think we should continue with the previous plan. Obviously we're not sending Will into the digital world again just to close gates, but we still need to gather our strength. Davis, how's the web site going?"

"What web site?" Davis asked. Everyone stared at him. "What?"

"The web site that I told you to check up on every day," Izzy sighed.

"Huh? Oh, _that_ web site," Davis said, turning red. "I guess it kind of slipped my mind."

"Jeez Davis, it's only the fate of the world," Mimi said sarcastically.

"I know, alright! I'm sorry," Davis said.

"It doesn't matter now. I'll fix anything that's wrong with the web site. The next important thing is figuring out how to get the digivice back," Izzy said.

"Well, do you have a plan Izzy?" Tentomon asked.

"Not yet, but I do have a lot of information," Izzy said as he turned to the computer and began to pull something up on the screen. "I've been able to save the map of the castle and link it directly to my computer. Thus, I should be able to get the exact location of the digivice from here," he said as the three-dimensional map appeared.

A tiny blinking light moved slowly through it. "There's the digivice," Izzy said, indicating the light. "As you can see, it's moving, which most likely means that Myotismon is carrying it. It's also important to realize that he'll be able to see us with it if we get too close, so we need to proceed with caution in whatever we do attempt."

"Well we can't get it off of him, he's too strong and too well protected," Sora said.

"Does he ever sleep?" Yolei asked.

"During the day, but he'll probably have guards," Gatomon replied.

A long silence followed. This was going to be an awful lot harder than we'd thought.


	23. American Idiot

Chapter 23: American Idiot

I stared at the streets outside of the airport. As I looked around, I had a hard time believing I was in another country. If not for the signs written in weird symbols, I wouldn't have believed it. Of course, I've never been that observant of cultures. It's not something that I ever thought was worth paying attention to. I had more important things to worry about than where my friends are from, or even myself for that matter. I really don't know my own nationality. Jesse says I must be part Irish because I drink so much, but I don't really care.

Prep had told me to get a cab. He had given me some piece of shit Japanese traveler's dictionary that was supposed to tell me how to talk, but when I tried to order some food in a restaurant in the airport, I didn't get very far. Then I found out that the girl spoke reasonably good English, and I finally got some food. I didn't trust the dictionary and I wasn't in any particular hurry, so I figured I'd just walk it. Prep had given me a map too, and he wrote minor landmarks all over it in the hopes that I'd be able to find my way around. Pretty simple stuff, really. Statue here, McDonalds there, park over there, I could've found the place without all his scribbles. I didn't go straight there, though. I figured I'd wander around the city for a while and try to get used to the place.

I walked down a very crowded street, staying close to the building so as not to be run over by bicycles. I didn't usually have to worry about bicycles in America, so this was a very weird experience. Some would dart in between the cars, which were stopped more often than they were moving. That's a phenomenon which wasn't foreign to me at all. I eventually wandered into a big open park. I sat down to take a rest on a bench near a fountain, and I watched a little kid throw a baseball to his dad. It made me think of my dad. He had tried to teach me baseball, before he got jailed up. He had also taught me to swim, which was the one saving grace I had in a life which too many people, Prep included, deemed worthless at first glance. Like that little kid's father. When he looked up and saw me, in my ripped up jeans and black T-shirt with a big skull on it, and my pierced ears, he took his little boy's hand and led him away to some other part of the park. It didn't bug me. I didn't expect any more of him. Some people ignored me; some just ran away, some tried to 'fix' me. It's that last kind that I can't stand. It seems like people assume that where I'm from and what I look like determines how I think. I'm certainly influenced by where I grew up, but I've got plans, goals, dreams, just like them. People usually can't annoy me very much, but people like that I just can't stand.

So I walked out of the park, hands in my pockets, and headed towards the little circled building on Prep's map. It was a little ways off still. I walked under a bridge and continued on towards the school. I turned for a second and looked back at the bridge. It suddenly hit me that I'd seen that bridge, all blown up, in a newspaper almost five years ago. That was when the news reports of monsters in Tokyo came out. I wouldn't find out much about the monsters for another two years, though.

I finally reached my destination. The schoolyard was deserted, as one would expect late in the day, with the sun barely arching over the horizon. I walked up to the door, and was surprised to find it propped open. I walked in and looked around. It didn't seem extremely different from schools I had been to already. Prep had somehow found out that the computer lab was on the second floor, and that it would be a good place to wait for someone to show up. I wandered up the steps, wondering at all the funny symbols, unsure how they could mean anything. Obviously they did, but it was fairly hard for me to believe.

My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of voices. They were coming from behind one of the doors. I walked over and grabbed the knob, but the door was locked. I knocked on the door rather loudly. The voices suddenly stopped. There were a series of hushed whispers, and then nothing. I waited there for about two minutes, and finally I decided to take an alternate route. I walked back outside the building and around to the side of it. I stared up at the second floor window, and then at everything below it. All I saw was a dumpster, which wouldn't be high enough by itself, and a pipe that ran up to the roof and passed close to one of the lab's windows. From the ground, I could see figures inside the lab, but I couldn't make out quite who it was. From my estimation, I knew two of the people in that room.

I climbed up onto the dumpster and began scaling the pole. I was at the window in seconds, but I stopped outside of it to try and listen to the conversation. Unfortunately, they were all talking in Japanese. Despite this setback, I did manage to pick out Will's voice. I'd know it anywhere, even in Japanese.

Just then, I had the misfortune to have my ear ring fall out. It dropped down, bounced off of the lid of the dumpster, and fell into the grass. I sighed inwardly, being careful to stay quiet. I wanted the benefit of surprise. I worked my way back down and picked up the ear ring. A shiny white skull, with two ruby eyes, dangled from a short chain. I had found it in the gutter, without its match, and gotten one of my ears pierced so I could wear it. A guy in a pawn shop offered me quite a bit of money for it once, but I liked it too much.

I put it back on and climbed back up to the room. This time, I wasted no time grabbing onto the sill and throwing my leg in. I quickly slipped through into the room and turned around to see twelve very surprised faces and one very happy one.


	24. Pickpocket

Chapter 24: Pickpocket

We all stared at the window as the boy crawled through it. Nobody had expected someone to climb in through the window, but I'm sure that I was more surprised than anyone, mostly because I had met this boy. If his unkempt hair and ragged clothes didn't give him away, his demeanor most certainly did. He stood up defiantly, looking slowly around the room, until his face finally rested on Will. I was going to break the silence, but Will beat me to it.

"Shark?" he asked quietly, still very surprised.

"The one and only," the boy replied in English. He didn't know Japanese, so I figured that only Will, Ken, and I would be able to understand him.

Will ran up to the boy and grabbed his hand, dragging him into some kind of one-armed hug.

"What are you doing here" Will asked him in English, releasing Shark.

"Prep told me your crest was fucked up again, so I came to help fix it," Shark replied.

"His name is Michael," I said, stepping forward and speaking in English. "And I could do without the swearing."

He looked at me for a second, and then finally seemed to recognize me. "You're that Mimi girl, right? Small world. Look, we had this argument once, and I ain't havin' it again."

"Um, mind clueing the rest of us in, guys?" Tai said. Of course, they hadn't understood a word of the conversation.

"Sorry, Tai," Will began. "This is my friend, Shark. He was in my group of digidestined. He doesn't speak Japanese, so, um; I don't know how he's supposed to explain himself."

"I'll explain something about him," I said indignantly. "Michael introduced me to him in New York. Shark belongs to a gang there. He was very rude to us, and refused to call Michael by his name. Be glad you can't understand him."

"What's she sayin' about me, Willyboy?" Shark asked Will. "Actually, forget it. I bet I know."

"Will, uh, could you explain exactly why he's here to us, now?" Tai asked, still rather confused. Will and Shark exchanged a few more words, and then Will began to explain.

"Michael told Shark that my crest might be reacting with some crests over here, so he came here to see if there's any way he can help. And please don't take Mimi's description too seriously. Shark's a good guy, and my best friend," Will said.

"Well, he was very rude the one time I met him," I said, somewhat indignant that Will had corrected me like that.

"That's great, I guess, but how can he help us?" Matt asked.

"Well, he does have a digimon, Uniquemon. We've been trying to gather up strength, right?" Will replied. At hearing his name, a small, round, yellow digimon with a long thick tentacle rising from the top of its head, which was its entire body, jumped out of Shark's back pack. I remembered Uniquemon from when we had met in New York. He was much more tolerable than his partner.

"Yeah, but one more person isn't going to help much, especially if he can't digivolve to ultimate," Tai replied.

"All this gibberish is givin' me a headache," Shark told Will. Will just shrugged, as if to ask Shark to just put up with it for a few minutes. Shark rolled his eyes.

"I guess," Will said, turning back to Tai. "Look, I'll fill him in on everything while you guys keep trying to plan our next move." Will turned to Shark and began explaining the events of the past few days. Shark listened quietly to him, nodding every once in a while.

"Well, what do you guys think? I this guy really worth keeping around, considering only two people can understand him?" Izzy asked.

"Three," Ken corrected. "I speak English."

"I'm learning English," Kari through in. "But I didn't understand anything that just happened."

"Believe me, he's nothing but trouble," I told them. "Shark has no manners and no respect for anything. He can only cause problems."

"Well if none of us can understand what he says, why does it matter?" TK asked.

"It's not like we've had a lot of help lately, guys," Sora said. "He flew all the way to Tokyo to help Will, so I'd think he'd at least try to be helpful."

"I'll take care of it," Shark said with a smile suddenly. I looked over to the two again. They began talking very quietly, and it seemed like they were arguing about something.

Finally, Will turned and said, "Uh, guys, Shark says he can get the digivice back."

"Right," Izzy said. "Have you explained that Myotismon is probably carrying it?"

"Yeah, he says that's not a problem," Will replied. "I don't know how he plans to do it either, but Shark can do some pretty amazing stuff."

"Lead me to this freak and I'll take care of it" Shark said. Of course, once again only three people understood him.

"Well, Will, if he doesn't have a good plan, I don't think it's worth wasting the time on," Joe said.

"Hold on," Ken said. "He might have an idea. We certainly haven't asked him." Ken turned to Shark and asked, in English, "Shark, how do you plan to get the digivice back from Myotismon"

"You just get me to him, and I'll take care of the rest" Shark said.

"That's not very comforting" Ken told him. Shark didn't respond. He just smiled slightly and stared unblinking at him.

"I'm willing to give anything a shot," Davis said. "If he says he can get the thing back, I say we let him try."

"Davis, that's just silly," I said. "There's no good reason to risk getting caught when nobody else even knows what the plan is."

"I'll go," Kari said. "He's Will's friend, and I think Will picks good friends. He picked us, right?"

"I suppose it's worth a shot," Ken said. "If we fail, Imperialdramon can get us out of there."

"Alright, then let's let him try," Tai said.

"What! Tai you can't be serious!" Izzy protested.

"Don't worry Izzy, they'll be alright. We'll send Mimi with them too, since she speaks English. She can make sure they don't do anything stupid," Tai said.

"Wait! I didn't volunteer for this job!" I said.

"But none of us speak English, Mimi. It'll be easier to communicate if we send bilingual people," Tai explained.

"Fine," I sighed. "If there's no other way." I have to admit that I was curious to see what Shark was planning. On the other hand, I really didn't want to get caught by Myotismon, but as long as Veemon and Wormmon were there, we had an effective escape route.

Even in the daylight, Myotismon's castle was frightening. I'm not sure if it was the appearance of the castle, or just the idea that Myotismon was hiding inside of it. Even after five years, it still sent shivers up my spine.

"Alright, Shark, where do we need to get you to?" Ken asked in English

"Will said this guy's carrying the thing around with him. Find him and I'll do the rest," Shark replied calmly.

"Gatomon, lead the way. We'll use the trackers on our digivices to locate the missing digivice." Ken instructed.

"Okay. Everyone stay close, we've got to move quickly to avoid the guards." Gatomon said.

Palmon looked at me nervously. "Mimi, I'm still not sure that this is a good idea."

"Don't worry Palmon, we've got Imperialdramon as a backup plan, so we've got nothing to lose by giving this a shot," I said, trying to reassure myself just as much as her.

Gatomon lead us through the mass of confusing hallways as quickly and quietly as possible, and successfully managed to dodge the guards patrolling the castle. Ken gave directions using his digivice as to where Will's digivice's signal was coming from, but Gatomon often had to improvise in order to avoid detection. Every time one of us made even the slightest noise, I was scared to death that we'd be caught. Somehow, we never were. At last we ended up going down the hallway that led to the gate. We crept along as slowly as possible, so as not to make even the slightest sound. As we turned the last corner, I had to stifle a gasp of fear.

Myotismon was there, but he had his back to us. He was standing in the middle of the room, staring down at the card slots, and then up at the door. He was apparently trying to find a way to open the gate despite not having the cards.

Shark turned toward us and said, "Wait here." He pulled a switchblade out of his pocket and flicked it open, holding it in his right hand.

"Shark, you can't fight him," I whispered as quietly and authoritatively as I could, which was very hard to do, but he held up his right hand, as if to calm me down.

"It's only for self-defense, in case he notices me. Now stay quiet. I'll be back in a second," he assured us.

We were all perfectly silent. Shark took off his shoes, hoping that he could move more quietly in socks. He slowly crept away from the group and into the room, holding the knife out in front of himself. We were all shaking with fear as he slowly approached the evil digimon. I had to do everything within my power to keep from gasping every time Myotismon shifted a little. After what seemed like an eternity, Shark was right behind him, literally inches away. Then, very carefully, he reached up towards Myotismon's hip. With a methodic and fluid motion, he reached cautiously into the digimon's pocket. We were all suddenly very tense. I thought for a moment that the crest of courage would actually fit him better than his actual crest, serenity. The four or five seconds while his hand was in Myotismon's pocket seemed to me like a year. Finally, the hand emerged, with the digivice gripped tightly between the fingers. We all remained perfectly quiet, knowing that we weren't out of the woods yet. Shark began to retrace his steps back to us, every bit as slowly and carefully as before. As he finally approached our group, all I could do was stare in amazement.

Shark handed the digivice to Will, who quickly clipped it onto his belt. Without a word, Shark motioned for us to start back. Gatomon interpreted his gesture, and began to lead us back down the hallway.

I think we all were actually quieter leaving the room, having had our nerves tested so badly by Shark's audacity. Michael once told me that fortune favors the bold, but I still had trouble reconciling Shark's nerve with common sense.

Sneaking out didn't take nearly as long as sneaking in had. Gatomon knew exactly where we were going, so she was able to guide us to the exit in just a few minutes. As soon as we got out into the sunlight we bolted for the safety of the trees. We ran quite a distance into the forest before we finally stopped at the edge of a small stream. We were all still shaking, but we were finally safe again. Shark was the only one who wasn't shaking. Even his digimon Uniquemon was tense, but Shark just leaned back against a tree with a satisfied smile plastered on his rough-looking face.

"How did you pull that off, Shark?" Ken asked in English. "My hands were shaking like mad, and I wasn't even close to him."

"I've been in some tight spots," Shark said simply. "My hood's a lot scarier than that freak anyways. What kind of clown dresses up like that?"

"He's a vampire," Ken explained to him.

"He's a weirdo, that's what he is," Shark said. "I bet him and Elton go way back." Will was the only one to chuckle at the joke. Ken and I didn't make the connection right away, and of course nobody else could understand him.

"Shouldn't we be heading back, guys," Davis said. "If Myotismon ever does realize that the digivice is missing, he'll probably come looking for it."

"Good point, let's head back," Kari said.

"Just a second," Gatomon said. "I'm dying of thirst." The cat digimon ran over to the stream and started to gulp down water.

"Ah, much better," she said, returning to us. "Alright, let's go home.

"I really wouldn't believe it if I didn't see the digivice," Sora said as the group crowded around Will.

"Shark's good at all kinds of stuff," Will said. Shark gave him a quizzical look, not understanding the Japanese.

"I said you're good at a lot of things," Will told him in English.

Shark grinned. "Thanks, Willyboy."

"Do you have a nickname for everyone?" I asked Shark.

"Why, do you want one?" Shark asked sarcastically. "How about I just call you 'Pinky'?"

"If you even say that one more time, I'll have Palmon tie you up and throw you out the window," I said. Shark just laughed.


	25. Gatomon Loses It

Chapter 25: Gatomon Loses It

"Get plenty of sleep, Agumon. I have a feeling we're gonna need every ounce of our strength," Tai told me as he jumped into bed.

"Right, Tai. The last thing I need is to be tired when we fight Myotismon,"

"Don't get ahead of yourself. Hopefully we won't have to fight him tomorrow," Tai told me.

I don't know why, but I couldn't get any sleep. I just lay in my little bed for almost an hour, unable to even close my eyes. Finally, I got up for a glass of water. I stood in the kitchen, slowly sipping the water and wondering why I couldn't sleep. I wasn't hungry at all, and I didn't have any more reason to be nervous than I had the last few nights. Tai was snoring loudly, but that had never been a problem for me before.

I finished my water and walked back toward Tai's room. I heard some kind of sound come from Kari's room, and it made me stop. I slowly walked up to the door. It was open a crack, and I peaked in. I saw Gatomon standing on the bed next to a sleeping Kari.

"Couldn't sleep either?" I asked, walking into the room. Gatomon ignored me.

"Hey, why are you being so rude?" I asked, taking a few steps forward. Suddenly, Gatomon raised her claws. I got a glipse of her eyes, and there was a strange, almost frantic look in them. Suddenly, she started to bring the claws down toward Kari's throat.

"Pepper Breath!" I cried as I balst a ball of fire at her. Her claws barely grazed Kari's neck, leaving a tiny scratch, before my fireball sent her flying into the wall. The noise awoke Kari, who looked at me and blinked.

"Agumon, why are you waking me up?" she asked groggily.

"Look out!" I said, leaping up onto the bed.

"Lightning Paw!" Gatomon screamed. The blow landed right on my jaw, and I fell backwards. It felt like my jaw was broken. Gatomon is champion level, and her attack hurt rookies a lot more than it normally would. Still, I jumped up to my feet as Kari scrambled out of the bed.

"What's going on?" she asked frantically.

"Something's wrong with Gatomon!" I told her. Gatomon leapt at us, but I managed to push Kari out of the way just in time. I was slammed into the wall hard by Gatomon's attack, but I couldn't worry about the pain right now. I had to get Kari out of there.

"Kari run!" I yelled to her. She obeyed instantly, jumping up off of the floor and rushing out of the room. Gatomon leapt at her, but a well-aimed Peper breath knocked her away from the door and into a corner of the room. I rushed after Kari and slammed the door shut behind me.

Tai came out of his room. "What's all the noise?" he asked.

"Tai, something's wrong with Gatomon!" Kari said. "She's going crazy."

"What do you mean going crazy?" Tai asked. Just then, Gatomon's claw bashed through the wooden door, which I was doing my best to hold shut. It created a small hole, but not one large enough for her to get through.

"You two run and get help, I'll hold her up!" I yelled at them. Tai grabbed his jacket and pulled the cell phone out of it while Kari grabbed her D-Terminal. They both ran out of the apartment as Gatomon's claw smashed through the door again.

"Agumon, meet us in the park!" Tai yelled back at me.

"Alright I said. Through the slightly larger hole, I could see Gatomon leaping at the door again. I shot a fireball through the hole, knocking her back. It only bought us a few seconds, though, because her next attack shattered the door, sending me rolling back into a sofa. She stared at me, as if thinking about whether or not she should waste her time with me or not. Her pupils were very small, and her eyes were badly bloodshot. She apparently decided not, because she streaked out of the room after Tai and Kari. I got up and quickly followed.

The apartment building has open-air balconies on the outside of each floor, stretching all the way along the building, which the front doors open out onto. As I ran out, I saw Gatomon turning the corner at the end of the balcony, heading for the stairs. I looked down at the street below and Saw Tai and Kari running on the sidewalk. I looked down at the street right below me, and saw an open garbage dumpster. Knowing that I had to get ahead of Gatomon again, I jumped from the fifth story balcony, aiming for the rather full dumpster.

I hit the trash hard, and I was dazed for a split second. Thankfully, my tough reptile skin protected me from the broken glass in the dumpster. Regaining my composure, I climbed out of the dumpster and ran after Kari and Tai. I could see them far ahead of me on the sidewalk, and I could just make out that Tai was talking on the cell phone. As I ran after them, I heard a grunt behind me. I looked back to see that gatomon had made it out of the building and was now gaining on me. I stopped for a second and launched a fireball at her. The attack caught her offguard and sent her flying sideways into a planter.

I didn't stay long enough to see what happened. I kept chasing Kari and Tai to the park. As I got close, I heard Gatomon's claws pounding on the sidewalk behind me. I rushed into the park. I ran toward Tai and Kari, but Gatomon was to fast. She slammed her claws into my back hard, knocking me to the ground, and leapt over me. As I got up I could see that she was almost to them. I tried to blast my fireballs at her, but I missed.

Just as she leapt at them, something dove into her and slammed into the ground. When the dust cleared, I could see Aquilamon pinning her to the ground with his talons. From the other side of the park, Yolei ran towards Kari and Tai, who had stopped running. I ran to them as quickly as I could, but just as I got there, Gatomon managed to free herself. She leapt at Aquilamon, knocking him backwards into a tree.

"Agumon, he needs help!" Tai yelled to me. I nodded in agreement.

Agumon digivolve to...:::::Greymon!

As Greymon, I stepped in front of the three humans. From my new height, I could see TK, Patamon, Matt, and Gabumon running toward us from another area of the park.

Gatomon ignored the temporarily downed Aquilamon and turned back toward me. I gritted my teeth and prepared for her attack.

"Lightning Paw!" She screamed as she leapt toward me. I waited until she was in the air, and then I attacked.

"Nova Blast!" I called out my attack. The enormous fireball hit her and blasted her back into the ground. The smell of singed fur rose from her as she stood up again. She was about to attack again when Garurumon, having just digivolved from Gabumon, tackled her into a bench. The bench was reduced to splinters as they rolled about thirty feet away. Patamon flew in next to me and prepared himself to fight. Aquilamon also stepped up next to me, the three of us forming a wall between our partners and Gatomon.

Garurumon was quickly on his feet again, and the massive white and blue wolf-like digimon positioned himself for another attack. Gatomon was slow getting up, but the maddened look had not left her eyes yet.

"Gatomon, what is wrong with you?" Garurumon growled at her. She didn't respond. She was breathing heavily and seemed to grow even angrier because of his question. She was staring at him, and her eyes seemed to be getting redder.

Matt finally realized what was happening. "Garurumon, look away! It's her Cat's Eye Hypnosis ability!" he screamed to his digimon. Garurumon obeyed just in time. The red waves spread out from Gatomon's eyes, but Garurumon wasn't looking at her. He still wasn't looking at her when she stopped, and she took the opportunity to score an easy hit right on his head. Garurumon was knocked away and landed in a fountain. He smashed into the stone statue which was spewing water and it crashed down on top of him. Gatomon wasted no time in rushing to the fountain and landing another easy hit while Garurumon was down. He sprang up and tried to find her, but she had run around behind him, and she now leapt over him and aimed an attack right at the back of his head. The attack never got off, though.

"Poison Ivy!" Palmon yelled out from behind Gatomon. The vines wrapped around her and dragged her backwards toward the ground. Garurumon turned to face her, expecting her to break free of the vines shortly, Palmon being a rookie-level digimon. But that didn't happen. In fact, Gatomon didn't even seem to be struggling against the vines. She just laid there with a confused look on her face. Her eyes were no longer bloodshot

"What happened? Why are we in the park?" she asked, looking around. Palmon released her and she slowly stood up.

"You don't remember anything?" Tai asked as he stepped forward. Garurumon, Aquilamon, and I returned to our rookie forms.

"The last thing I remember was going to sleep in Kari's room," Gatomon said. "So why are we in the park?"

"You were going crazy," I said. "You even attacked Kari."

Gatomon looked shocked. "I . . . attacked Kari?" she asked, unable to believe it.

"Yeah. I walked into the room and you were attacking her," I replied. "Everyone came here to stop you."

"I don't remember any of that," Gatomon said. She turned toward Kari. "I'm sorry, Kari," she said, lowering her head.

"Don't worry Gatomon. You're back to yourself now, and that's all that matters," Kari said.

"But what could have caused her to go insane in the first place?" TK wondered.

"It's impossible to say if Gatomon doesn't remember anything," Matt said.

"I'm sorry everyone, but I can't think of anything," Gatomon said.

"Could it have been Myotismon?" Yolei asked.

"Do you think he's finally managed to get back to the real world?" TK wondered.

"If he has, then we have to warn everyone else, tonight. There's no time to lose," Tai said.

"Hold on, I've got an email from Gennai," Kari said. Everyone crowded around Kari to see what it said.


	26. Absolute Chaos

Chapter 26: Absolute Chaos

_Author's Note: Due to my incredible laziness I did not feel like typing out every single digivolution in this chapter. So sue me._

"So what's it say, Kari?" Tai asked as we all tried to get a look at the girl's D-terminal.

"Just a second, I'll read it out loud, okay?" Kari said, clicking on the message.

Dear Digidestined,

I wanted to send you some good news for once, but unfortunately I don't have any. What I do have is a report of some very strange events in the digital world. Digimon all over the world are beginning to go insane. These insane digimon attack the first thing they see, and it's becoming rather nasty around here. I'm afraid that I have no idea what's causing it, but I think that you may be able to figure it out. Please come as soon as you can.

Kari closed the D-terminal with a sigh.

"So, this didn't just happen to Gatomon, it's happening all over the digital world," Matt said.

"In a way, that's good. It rules out the theory that Myotismon is in the real world and took control of Gatomon," I offered, trying to sound hopeful.

"While that's true, Yolei, I think that this problem is just as severe," Tai said. "If the digimon are all going crazy, it will be hard for us to move safely in the digital world. Also, whatever is making them go crazy could affect our digimon, too."

"Then there's only one thing to do," Mimi said. "We have to get everyone together and go find out what's causing this before it gets completely out of hand."

"I guess we have no choice," TK said. "Let's start calling people."

Nobody was happy to be woken up in the middle of the night, but nevertheless everyone made it in to the computer lab. Davis was the last one to show up, as usual.

"Okay everyone, here's what we know," Tai began. "Something is making the digimon go crazy, and it can affect our digimon. The only thing we can do is find out what it is and stop it as quickly as possible."

"But how will we know where to look?" Sora asked.

"We'll go to wherever the greatest concentration of crazy digimon is," Izzy said. "There's a good chance that the epicenter of this outbreak also has the most afflicted digimon."

"Won't that be dangerous?" Cody asked.

"It will, but it sounds like there's no other choice. If whatever this is can affect our digimon, too, we can't let it spread," Joe said.

"Hey, does anybody remember when Frigimon went crazy?" Mimi asked. "Maybe what happened to him is related to what happened to Gatomon and what's happening to all those other digimon."

"Good thought Mimi," Izzy said. "Both occurrences do seem surprisingly similar."

"Yeah, I stopped both of them," Palmon said proudly.

"Wait a second," Izzy said. "You're absolutely right, Palmon. In both cases, the effects of whatever was causing them to go crazy ceased when they were hit by your attack."

"So do you think Palmon can stop the crazy digimon?" Mimi asked.

"There's no solid evidence to support that theory, but the circumstantial evidence is very strong," Izzy said. "It's certainly worth a shot."

"In that case, let's stop wasting time talking about this and get going!" I said enthusiastically. Everyone nodded their agreement, except for that Shark kid, who probably had missed most of the conversation despite Will's attempts to translate it for him.

Izzy loaded the digital gate program, and TK's D-3 activated the gate. One by one we all jumped through the gate. By now I was used to the rather strange tingly feeling that I felt when getting downloaded, and it didn't bother me at all.

The digital world didn't look any different than it normally did. We were in a rocky area full of low mountains. The digital world's sun was just barely beginning to peek out over the horizon, and the fresh mountain air tasted good in comparison with city air. It really didn't seem like anything was wrong, but we kept our guard up anyways.

Gennai had sent Izzy a map of the appearances of crazy digimon. It was much more sporadic than he had hoped, but in general the map suggested that we head up into the mountains, toward a large lake. Surprisingly, we didn't see any digimon for most of the walk. I suppose there was a good reason for that though. I had a strange feeling that we were being watched the entire time, but I didn't say anything.

After about a half hour, we stopped to take a break near the bottom of a steep incline. It wasn't quite steep enough to be a cliff, but it certainly wouldn't have been easy to climb, at least for a human.

Most of the group was just sitting and resting, but I noticed that Tai and Matt were standing a little ways away, talking to each other. I don't usually like to eavesdrop on people, but I wasn't particularly tired and was becoming rather bored.

"Are you sure this is safe, Tai. We've had some good luck so far, but when we finally do find these crazy digimon, we may be in for a really tough time," Matt said.

"I know, matt, but we can't back down. We have to face this problem head-on, or else it will only get worse. You and I are the leaders, here, and we've got to be strong for everyone," Tai replied.

"Of course, we've got to worry our friends' safety. We won't get very far without them," Matt reminded him.

"That's why we're taking this rest, to make sure that nobody falls behind or gets too tired to continue," Tai said.

"You're right, we've got to be strong for our friends, and make sure that we all stick together," Matt agreed. I smiled to myself. It was nice to know that they were thinking about everyone.

"Hey, what's that thing?" Cody asked, pointing to the top of the ridge. We all looked up to see a very strange looking digimon. It was close to ten feet tall, with shiny chrome skin, and it seemed rather humanoid. Its body was large and round at the top, and very skinny at the waist. Below that was a smaller portion of the body from which the creature's legs protruded. It had very long arms and a human-like head, but the most noticeable feature was the eight sheathed swords strapped across its back, four rising over each shoulder.

"That's Megaswordmon," Tentomon began. "A mega-level digimon who can leap incredible distances. His sheaths can regenerate the swords that he throws instantly."

"That's the thing that was chasing us right before Will was captured!" Davis yelled.

"So you remember him?" an all too familiar voice said from just beyond the ridge. Myotismon stepped up to the edge of it, along with three more Megaswordmon. "Then I'm sure you realize that this time there is no escape," the vampire digimon cackled. "But first I want to thank you, Will. Despite your escape, I was able to use your crest's power to revive some of my most loyal servants. However, your life is now meaningless to me, and so this time you will not receive mercy!"

Will stared up at Myotismon, anger filling his eyes. "The dark crest is not yours to use, it's mine and Drakamon's!" he screamed.

"You don't even know how to use it," Myotismon taunted. "I will show you just how insignificant you really are. Attack!" the undead digimon yelled.

All four Megaswordmon drew out their swords. "Raining Blades!" they all screamed at once as they sent their sword flying towards us.

We began running for cover, but Will stood his ground as his crest began to shine brightly. Suddenly, he and Drakamon both exploded with light.

Drakamon, warp digivolved to...:::::Metalskullhydramon!

We stared up at the enormous seven-headed skeletal dragon. Shiny black armor covered its entire body, and from its center head, three sharp horns emerged, coated in the same black armor. Another head had two such horns, and the remaining five heads each had one. Drakamon had managed to warp digivolved all the way to mega!

As the swords fell, the heads maneuvered into position over us. The blades bounced uselessly off of the shiny black armor

"Take cover under his heads!" Will yelled out. We all grouped together beneath the massive dragon for protection. The swords continued to rain down on us, but they were unable to penetrate Metalskullhydramon's armor.

"Agumon, let's go get 'em! Digivolve to Greymon!" Tai called to his digimon.

"You too, Gabumon! Digivolve into Garurumon and try to take those things down!" Matt said.

Suddenly, both Tai and Matt erupted with light. It seemed to flow from somewhere within them, but it was so bright that we were forced to look away.

"What's going on?" Tai asked.

"Remember what Will said, about the crests having incredible powers?" Matt said. "I think we're finding out just how powerful they are. Even though we thought we had given them up to protect the digital world, we really never can give them up, because in the end, they're created from the biggest part of our selves!"

Agumon, warp digivolved to...:::::Wargreymon!

Gabumon, warp digivolved to...:::::Metalgarurumon!

"They've reached the mega level again," TK said in awe.

"This is just like what happened to Gomamon," Joe said. "The crests really are still with us!"

"Alright! Now that we've got megas back on our side, this is a much fairer fight!" Izzy said.

"How about we add one more?" Davis suggested. "You ready, Veemon?"

"Absolutely, Davish!" Veemon replied.

"How about you, Wormmon?" Ken asked.

"No problem Ken!" Wormmon said.

Veemon digivolved to...:::::Exveemon!

Wormmon digivolved to...:::::Stingmon!

Stingmon, Exveemon, DNA digivolved to...:::::Paildramon!

Paildramon mega digivolved to...:::::Imperialdramon!

"Let's get 'em!" Wargreymon cried as he flew up toward the Megaswordmon.

"Terra Force!" he called out as he gathered a massive ball of energy over his head and threw it at one of the Megaswordmon.

The foe leapt out of the way just in time, and the blast slammed into the side of the ridge, sending a cloud of rocks and dust up into the air.

"Metal Wolf Claw!" Metalgarurumon screamed as his mechanical body seemed to split open, revealing an insane number of guns and various missile launchers. He sent a barrage of ice rockets and bullets screaming toward two of the other Megaswordmon, but they both manage to dive out of the way, causing the missiles to slam into the rock face and create enormous patches of ice all across it.

"Imperial Cannon!" Imperialdramon attacked the last Megaswordmon, but his attack was no more successful than the other digimon's. Much like Wargreymon's attack, his blast smashed into the ridge and blasted huge chunks of rock out of it.

"Tai, we've got to try something else, those things are too fast!"

"We'll all help to attack!" Biyomon said. "We'll try to distract them while Wargreymon, Metalgarurumon, and Imperialdramon attack."

"Okay, just be careful," Sora told her digimon.

I looked at Hawkmon. "Stay safe," I told him simply.

"Don't worry, Yolei, I'll be fine," he assured me. Then they all began to digivolve. Every one of our digimon glowed with bright light and grew into their champion forms. I smiled as Aquilamon took shape before my eyes. He nodded to me, and then took off toward the battle.

Aquilamon joined up with Togemon, Ikkakumon, and Kabuterimon in going after one of the digimon. They couldn't damage it, but they might be able to gain its attention long enough for one of our three megas who were fighting to hit it. Metalskullhydramon was using five of his seven heads to protect all of us humans, so the two that were free to attack were no more effective than the champion-level digimon. Instead, they devoted their strength to protecting the lower-level digimon from attacks.

Togemon's Needle Spray along with Ikkakumon's harpoon torpedo managed to make one of the Megaswordmon stop attacking, having to devote all of its focus to protecting itself. As Aquilamon and Kabuterimon circled around in front of it, Imperialdramon passed behind it. The Megaswordmon didn't notice him until it was too late, and the Imperial Cannon landed squarely on target, sending the digimon flying through the air. Wargreymon saw the weakened sword wielder streaking through the sky, and moved to intercept him. He slammed his claws into the Megaswordmon and sent it spiraling down to the ground. It dissolved into data upon impact.

Digmon and Pegasusmon were busy distracting another one, who was fighting back with a vengeance. He managed to strike Digmon and send him flying backward into a large rock, shattering the rock. Birdramon managed to pull his gaze away long enough for Pegasusmon to fly in and ram Megaswordmon to the ground. Before he could get up, Wargreymon seized the opportunity and threw another massive energy ball at the fallen foe. The blast sent him flying up into the air, right toward Metalgarurumon. Matt's metallic partner flew straight toward the digimon, slicing him with his claws. The Megaswordmon was instantly reduced to data.

I looked over to the other side of the fight to see that Myotismon was also fighting. He was being careful to avoid our megas, but he was able to attack our champion level digimon. I ran over to Kari as fast as I could.

"Somebody's got to slow down Myotismon," I said.

"Good idea," she replied quickly. We both smiled as our digivices lit up.

Gatomon, Aquilamon, DNA digivolve to…..:::::Silphymon!

Myotismon's bats were harassing Exveemon when Silphymon managed to run up the steep slope unnoticed by Myotismon.

"Static Force!" the fused digimon cried as it gathered a charge of energy together and threw it at Myotismon. The blast struck him in the chest, knocking him backwards. The bat immediately left Exveemon and flew toward Silphymon.

"Get her!" Myotismon screamed at the nearest Megaswordmon. The digimon obeyed, rushing at Silphymon with two swords in each hand.

"Multi-Sword Slash!" it called out as it swung at Silphymon. Silphymon wasn't quick enough to dodge the attack, and was sent flying backwards off of the ridge. Megaswordmon, however, had left himself wide open in the process, and Metalgarurumon capitalized.

"Metal Wolf Claw!" he called out as a massive barrage of rockets flew at Megaswordmon. The direct hit froze Megaswordmon solid and it crashed down onto the ground, trapped in a block of ice. This gave Imperialdramon more than enough time to line up his Imperial Cannon attack. The mega-level digimon was obliterated, being reduced to floating particles of data.

Silphymon crashed to the ground hard. Unable to withstand the attack of a mega-level digimon, the two split apart once again, into Hawkmon and Gatomon. They landed far apart, because Hawkmon rolled about sixty feet farther than Gatomon.

"Gatomon!" Kari screamed. She ran out from under the safety of Metalskullhydramon's heads and toward Gatomon.

"Kari get back, it's too dangerous!" Tai yelled after her. Kari ignored him and kept going. The swords being flung by the remaining Metalswordmon slammed into the ground all around her as she ran. She finally reached Gatomon and fell down next to her.

"Gatomon, are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, Kari, I'm fine," Gatomon replied weakly. Suddenly, her eyes got very wide. "Kari look out!" Gatomon screamed and pushed Kari away. A sword landed right where Kari had been just milliseconds before. Kari fell down onto her back. She looked up and was scared stiff as another sword slammed into the ground right next to her head. Metalskullhydramon tried to rush one of his heads over to protect her, but he couldn't make it in time. She tried to get up again, but it was too late. Another sword flew down and hit her squarely in the stomach, driving straight through her into the ground.

Time seemed to freeze in that moment. All we could do was stare at the expression on Kari's face as her head fell back against the ground. Blood from the wound began to drench her pink and white shirt, and a small pool was forming around her.


	27. Crest of Serenity

Chapter 27: Crest of Serenity

Wargreymon, Imperialdramon, and I all rushed the last Megaswordmon at once. We attacked in a massive storm of firepower which shattered the rocks on the side of the cliff face and obliterated the last of Myotismon's fiends. Facing four mega-level digimon and only being an ultimate himself, Myotismon fled like lightning without a word. His hostage digimon wouldn't have been able to protect him from all four of us at once.

Tai bolted across the rocky terrain toward Kari, as we all did, running at top speed but without any idea what we could do. Tai made it there first and fell down next to her now unconscious form, but two strong hands grabbed him and kept him from trying to pick her up.

"Don't touch her!" the words were spoken by Shark, in English, so there was no way Tai could understand except by the fact that the boy was holding him back.

"Don't touch her," Shark repeated calmly, the meaning of the strange words translated by the act of holding Tai back and the calmness in his voice. As soon as Tai was able to collect himself, Shark let him go and looked around. Finding Ken, he said, "Use that kid's laptop, go back to the school, and call an ambulance." Shark tossed Ken a phone.

"But what if . . ." Ken started to protest, but was cut off.

"Just go!" Shark commanded firmly, but surprisingly not angrily. He signaled Will and Mimi to come over.

"I can't speak Japanese, so you have to translate. We have to do whatever possible to move that sword as little as possible. That means that we have to pick her up, keep her body level, and carry her through the port. Tell them."

Mimi quickly relayed the message to everyone. We all looked around, not sure if this was the right course of action.

"Guys, Shark says that he's dealt with injuries like this before," Will tried to explain to us. "He knows what to do. C'mon," and with that Will walked over to Kari and kneeled down next to her head. Several others of us gathered around. Ken had already gone through the portal Izzy had opened, and now he brought the laptop over to us. Several of the humans carefully slid their hands under Kari and picked her up, ignoring the blood, and slowly moved through the portal. We followed closely behind and soon found ourselves in the computer lab of the school again, unsure of what to do next.

The people who hadn't helped to carry her came through one by one, Shark first. He immediately walked over to Kari and placed his hands on either side of the sword's blade. He pressed down slightly, making a small spurt of blood come up and causing Tai to gasp. He said something to Will in English, which Will promptly translated.

"We have to put pressure on it, to reduce the bleeding," Will said.

Tai's face was ghostly white. We all were scared half to death, but I could only imagine what it must have been like for Tai. He and Kari were always so close.

The ambulance arrived almost within a minute of our return. They carefully set Kari down on the stretcher and the med people removed the sword, replacing it with a smooth wooden board, again to restrict the loss of blood, as Shark would later explain through translation.

The doctor briefly told Tai which hospital they were taking her to as she was carted quickly out of the room. Tai just nodded slowly, almost to shocked to respond.

"Will, tell the doctor that Tai's her brother," Shark said. The doctor looked up.

"Oh, not needed. I speak English a little," the doctor said in English, and he took Tai's arm and led him away toward the ambulance too.  
"What now?" Matt asked. He looked around the room. Nobody seemed to want to suggest anything.

Shark got a translation of the short question from Will, and told him something else, again in English.

"Shark says we should just go to the hospital now," Will said quietly. "Also, someone needs to call Kari's parents." Nobody protested. Nobody else had any real idea of what to do next. Without a word, Joe pulled out a cell phone and walked away from the group. We all began to file out of the room. As we left, Shark picked up Gatomon, who was shaking very badly, and gently stroked her head, trying to calm her down. I have to admit, I misjudged Shark before. Despite his appearance, he was a good person.

We wandered down the street for what seemed like an eternity. The hospital wasn't far away at all, but we were still in a daze. None of our friends had ever been injured that badly. We were confronted by the thought that she might not make it, and for the first time there was nothing we could do about it.

We found Tai in the waiting room at the hospital, staring at the floor. Matt and Sora sat next to him and tried to talk to him. Tai was doing his best to stay hopeful, but nobody was sure how bad the injury actually was. There was nothing that any of us could do but wait.

Everyone seemed so afraid, more so than at any time I could remember. When Kari and Tai's parents arrived, they seemed just as distraught. All the doctors would say was that she was in the emergency room. After a few minutes, a doctor asked Tai and his parents to come back with him. I looked over at Matt, thinking that it could be something really bad.

"It's just a blood transfusion, Gabumon," Matt said. "Tai and Kari apparently have the same blood type, so they're going to borrow some of his blood to try and help her." I nodded, understanding. Tai returned a few minutes later.

Sitting there waiting to find out what would happen was the hardest thing I had ever done. It made me think back to when I had first met Kari. Myotismon had trapped our area of the city in a blanket of fog, and Matt's father had left him and me in a warehouse for safety. Tai found us there, bringing Kari with him, and told us that she was the missing digidestined child we had been looking for. She was only eight then. She and TK were the youngest members of our group. Now, of course, Cody is the youngest, but I still remember how little Kari seemed when we were fighting Myotismon before. Had we really changed so little in five years?

The clock said that two hours passed, but it seemed like so much longer. I was sitting silently next to Matt, who was still talking quietly with Tai. Every time the door had opened for the past two hours, everyone had looked up only to see a nurse passing through or some other person moving to or from a room. But this time a doctor came out and stopped just outside the door. He looked toward Kari's parents, who were standing near the door, anxiously awaiting news of their daughter. Now we all stared at the doctor, hoping against all hope that he would say exactly what he said.

"She'll be alright," he said softly. Everyone sighed happily. Gatomon looked up, wanting to know when we could see her again.

"She lost a lot of blood, and right now she needs to rest. Fortunately no vital organs were damaged. She was very lucky," the doctor summarized. "She's still sleeping, but we'll let the family go to see her." Tai got up and took Gatomon from Shark. They smiled at each other in a way that needed no translation, and Tai followed his parents through the door towards Kari's room.


	28. A Life Worth Living

Chapter 28: A Life worth Living

_Must be your skin that I'm sinkin in  
Must be for real cause now I can feel  
and I didn't mind  
it's not my kind  
not my time to wonder why  
everything's gone white  
and everything's grey  
now your here now you away  
I don't want this  
remember that  
I'll never forget where your at  
don't let the days go by  
glycerine_

I stared at the scene before me. Once again, I found myself on the small, tree-lined street. The snow was falling again, blanketing everything in a soft white. The clouds high above were screened by the falling snow, giving the sky an appearance of endless light gray coloring that was neither happy nor sad. I only noticed these things for a second before I remembered what I had seen before. I decided that I had to find the branch again, just to see if it was still catching the snow. I wanted to ask it why it did, because I had not gotten a clear answer from it before. I somehow knew that if I found the branch, my questions would be answered.

I began to walk down the street, watching the road for any signs of the branch. The road seemed much longer this time, and I walked on and on without seeing it. Eventually I began to worry that I might not make it to the branch in time. I wasn't sure how much time I had left before I wouldn't be able to find the branch. I quickened my pace, not wanting to miss my chance to figure out the mystery of the tree branch. But I still couldn't find it. I began to jog, slowly becoming more and more afraid of not finding the branch. As my pace increased, the snow seemed to move rapidly past me. The big white flakes blew by me faster and faster as I began to run down the street, desperate to find the branch before it was too late. I ran on and on down the perfectly straight road, but no matter how far I went I couldn't find the branch.

As I kept running, my foot finally slipped on the wet road. I tumbled to the ground and rolled a few feet, soaking my clothes. I slowly sat up and looked around me. There was till no sign of the branch, and now I didn't know which way I had been running. The snow, which had seemed to move so quickly past me, now fell slowly down to the ground with a pristine beauty that I hadn't noticed before.

Then the snow began to stop falling. High above me, I saw clouds parting, revealing a soft blue sky above the trees. Off on the horizon, the sun was quickly slipping away. I looked above me again. The sky was growing darker. Soon there would be no light, and I wouldn't be able to see the snow or the branch. I couldn't do anything except sit there and stare at the sky as it grew darker and darker. It seemed that the whole world was now slipping away into the darkness.

But then something happened, and ever since that dream, I've never been able to look at the sky again without remembering it. Far away, in the darkest part of the sky, a single star appeared. A tiny, almost insignificant light in a mass of darkness. And yet it seemed so bright, as if all by itself it could light the world. Around it, more stars began to appear, and as they did, I realized that I was still able to see everything around me. The stars were so beautiful; floating in the darkness; sharply contrasting the black sky all around them. The first star that had appeared was the brightest, and as I stared at it, it almost seemed to be trying to tell me something. I had the feeling that it was speaking to me, but that the words were just a little too quiet for me to hear. I strained against the night to try and hear the star, but all I could find was the feeling that it wanted to tell me something. Then the dream began to fade slowly into nothingness.

My eyes opened slowly to the dim white light all around me. My vision was badly blurred, but I could make out the outline of a figure leaning over me. My head seemed to be swimming around in a sea of nothingness, even as my vision cleared and I was able to recognize the faces.

"Tai, Gatomon?" I asked feebly, barely able to think of the words because my head was filed with an odd floaty feeling.

"Kari, you should be sleeping. You need your rest," Tai said.

"Where am I, Tai?" I asked. I tried to lean up, but for some reason my mind couldn't make my body move.

"You're in the hospital, Kari," Gatomon said. Suddenly, the memories came flooding back to me. The memories of Gatomon pushing me out of the way of a sword, the unbearable pain of the one that hit me, and the sight, just before I passed out, of the blood staining my shirt and the ground, all rushed to the front of my mind. It temporarily broke the painkiller-induced daze that I was in, and I was finally able to clearly see the hospital room I was in.

But it was a good thing that I was temporarily awoken from my dreamlike reverie, because I saw Tai and Gatomon clearly. I saw the little smiles on their faces, and the tears that filled their eyes, and I suddenly understood what the star had been trying to tell me.

I smiled weakly, my mind again beginning to slip away to the power of the drugs.

"Tai, is everyone else okay?" I asked as my vision began to blur.

"Everyone else is fine, Kari. Just try to get some more sleep, okay?" Tai told me.

"Is Will okay?" I asked, barely able to maintain consciousness. I wasn't even sure what made me ask it, but for some reason it seemed important to me.

"He's fine. He's just worried like the rest of us," Tai said.

"Okay . . ." I managed to reply before my mind slipped back into a quiet sleep.

I don't know how long I slept after that. I didn't dream at all after the dream about the stars, and I was semi-conscious for short periods of time. During these times I was aware of people in the room, but it was hard to figure out exactly who was there.

I finally awoke in the middle of the night, fully conscious of where I was and what was around me. I was aware of the IV tube in my arm, and of the knowing pain that was growing in my stomach as the painkillers wore off, and of a pile of get well soon cards and little treats on a small table next to the bed. I was also aware of someone else in the room, talking in a hushed tone so as not to wake me up.

"It seems like you're studying an awful lot lately, Joe," Sora said.

"I've got to," Joe said, still staring at his book. "If I want to get into med school, I can't let my grades slip.

"C'mon, Joe, you've been studying all night," said Gomamon. "Take a break."

"Gomamon, I've got to take this stuff seriously," Joe said.

"You're always too serious, Joe," I said weakly. My stomach hurt when I tried to talk, but I quickly found out that if I talked quietly it wasn't bad.

"Kari, you're awake!" Sora said, standing up.

"Why are you guys here? The clock says that it's two in the morning," I asked, indicating the clock with my eyes.

"We didn't know when you'd wake up again, and we wanted somebody to be here when you did, so we've been taking turns staying here," Joe explained.

"You didn't have to do that," I said.

"Don't worry, Kari, we all wanted to," Biyomon said. I smile at her and tried to sit up, but I promptly fell back down due to the pain in my stomach.

"Try not to move," Joe said. "It'll be a while before that pain goes away."

"Right, I forgot," I smiled. I looked over at the pile of get well cards again and blushed.

"Do you want us to read some of them for you?" Sora asked.

"No, I'll read them in a little while," I said, still blushing. "You guys really didn't need to go through all this trouble . . ."

"Nonsense. If you can take a hit like that for us, it's the least we can do," Gomamon said.

"Thanks Gomamon," I said. I looked out the window at the night sky. The lights of the city prevented me from seeing the stars, but I knew they were there all the same.


	29. The Worst Good News Ever

Chapter 29: The Worst Good News Ever

It wasn't until her second night in the hospital that Kari was finally fully conscious again. Sora and Joe were there to greet her, but because it was two in the morning when she awoke, the rest of us didn't make it there until later in the day. Most of us, including me, had to wait for school to get out, and so it was the middle of the afternoon before I finally got a chance to see her again. Yolei, Davis, Cody, Ken, and I went after school.

She couldn't sit up, but she seemed to be completely fine otherwise. The only major problem we ran across is that she wouldn't be able to leave the hospital for a few days, much less go to the digital world. Izzy had already been making trips back there to visit Gennai and try to figure out what was causing the digimon to go crazy, but we knew that we would have to take a larger group if we wanted to fix the problem. Gatomon promised to go anyways. She was a champion, so she wouldn't need to digivolve in order to be helpful, but without Kari she couldn't DNA or armor digivolve, which also weakened Hawkmon's fighting ability.

She told us not to worry about her, and that she would be better off knowing that we were getting closer to figuring out the problem of the crazy digimon. Because of the return of Metalgarurumon and Wargreymon, Myotismon had been pushed to the back of our thoughts temporarily. We figured that he wouldn't attack us when we had so much strength.

"Are you sure you're going to be alright here?" Yolei asked.

"I'm sure," Kari said with a smile. "You should all go help Izzy. I'm sure he needs it a lot more than I do right now.

"If you're sure," Davis said reluctantly.

"I'm sure," Kari assured him.

"Alright then. We'll come back later tonight to check on you, okay?" Davis persisted.

"Okay Davis," Kari said, giggling. My D-terminal started beeping.

"That's probably Izzy now, wondering where we are," I said as I took it out.

"Well we promised to meet him five minutes ago," Cody reminded us.

"No, it's from Gennai!" I said, as I read the email message.

Everyone save Kari jumped up in surprise.

"What does it say? Why would he send this to you?" Yolei asked.

"Hang on, let me read it," I said.

_Dear TK,_

_You're probably wondering why I sent this message to you instead of Izzy. Well, I knew that you were probably visiting Kari so I wanted you to tell her that I hope she's feeling better._

"That's what he wanted to tell us?" Davis asked.

"Hold on, there's more," I said.

_You're probably wondering if that's all I had to tell you. Well, I'm afraid I have some good news and some bad news. I'll start with the good news. Myotismon has been destroyed._

"What?!" Everyone yelled simultaneously.

"That's got to be a mistake," Cody said.

"How could he have been destroyed? Who would have destroyed him?" Kari asked.

"Let me finish the message," I said, returning my attention to the screen.

_I bet you're wondering if that was a mistake. Well, it wasn't. Myotismon is dead and gone. He won't be troubling you again. However, his army will be. It was Daemon that destroyed Myotismon. Daemon has taken control of Myotismon's army. He is doing some very strange things which some friends of mine are looking into right now. Now for the bad news._

"How is Daemon not the bad news?" Davis asked.

"Just let TK finish," Yolei said.

_Just before Daemon found him, Myotismon managed to find an open gate to the real world, and he has locked it open so that it can be used any time. Daemon himself is now amassing digimon near the gate, but not normal digimon. He is gathering the crazy ones that have been causing so much havoc. You need to go to Izzy right away and relay this message to him. _

"I thought we had locked Daemon away in the Dark Ocean," Ken said. "How could he have gotten out of there?"

"He was able to freely pass between the real world and digital world, maybe he found a way to freely pass out of the Dark Ocean as well," Cody suggested.

"Well this changes everything. Myotismon was only an ultimate, but Daemon is a mega, and a powerful one, too," Davis said.

"I think you guys are overlooking the most obvious problem," Yolei said. "The fact that he has a digital gate which he is going to use to bring digimon into this world!"

There was a brief moment of silence as everyone contemplated this, and then we all bolted for the door.

"Sorry to run out, Kari, but this is really important!" Davis yelled back to her.

"Don't worry, I understand!" Kari called after us as we rushed down the hallway to the elevators.

We ran as quickly as possible to Izzy's apartment. As soon as he opened the door, we all rushed inside.

"What's going on guys? Why the rush?" he asked.

"It's Daemon, and Myotismon, and the gate, and . . ." Davis started choking out random words.

"Davis, slow down, I can't understand you," Izzy said. "Now, just try to explain what the problem is, nice and slowly."

"Daemon somehow escaped from the Dark Ocean, and he's managed to delete Myotismon," I began. Izzy's eyes grew wide.

"I've got to talk to Gennai about this, tell me the rest while my computer boots up," he said as he walked into his room and turned on the machine. We all crowded into the room.

"Well, Daemon has now taken control of Myotismon's army. But before Myotismon was defeated, he managed to open a digital gate. Now Daemon is gathering up the crazy digimon near the gate," I explained.

"How'd you find all of this out?" Izzy asked.

"An email from Gennai," I replied.

"Hm, I see," Izzy said. He opened up his email. "Well, there's nothing from Gennai, but what's this?" he said, moving the cursor of the email in question. "I don't recognize that name, but my computer didn't filter it out as spam." Izzy thought for a moment, and then opened it. The email came up, and Izzy quickly began to scan it.

"It's from someone named Ricky, in America," Izzy told us. I took a closer look at the screen as Izzy began to read it, and I was surprised when Izzy began to read it to us.

_Mister Izzy, I know you don't know me, but my name's Ricky. I know Will and Shark, who I hope made it there safely by now. I have some things I have to tell you about Daemon. Michael and Laura, two of my friends, have managed to discover his plans. He is using the digimon to farm very powerful herbs that, when eaten, cause digimon to go insane. He is then grinding them up and dumping them into rivers, so that when digimon drink from the rivers, they begin to go insane. We've discovered a way around this, however. Plant digimon absorb abnormally high quantities of the herb when it is around them, but they are not affected by it. This means that a plant type digimon would be able to cure another digimon by touching them and draining the herb out of them. Also, machine type digimon are immune to the herb's effects._

_Thanks for listening to me. If you see Shark, please tell him that Jesse misses him. And if you see Will, tell him that I'm sorry. I didn't get the chance to before he left._

"If this kid is right, then that explains why Palmon was able to cure Gatomon and why Gatomon went crazy in the first place," Izzy said. "We'll need to tell everyone, and then we need to go to the digital world and take out these farms that Daemon has. If we can do that, then I think . . . Why are you guys staring at me?"

"Izzy, that email isn't in Japanese," Cody told him.

"What? What are you talking . . ." Izzy started as he turned back to the screen.

"It's English, Izzy," Ken told him. Izzy continued to stare at the screen.

"Prodigious," he said, coming to a conclusion. "I can't understand the letters any more." Izzy leaned back and smiled. "This must have something to do with my crest," he said.

"What do you mean, Izzy?" I asked.

"Well, I think I've developed a theory about what the hidden powers of these crests might be. You remember what Joe said, about when he and Gomamon were sucked into the digital world. His crest is reliability, so it reacted unconsciously when Will and Kari needed him to save them. My crest of knowledge just did the same thing. The email was important, so my crest let me understand it even though I can't actually read it," Izzy explained.

"That's incredible," Cody said.

"That's not the only example. TK, do you remember five years ago, when we were in Machinedramon's city?" Izzy asked.

"Yeah, of course I do," I said.

"Kari got sick, and you guys stayed to guard her while Tai and I went out to look for medicine. But then that spirit possessed Kari, and she got better instantly, as well as being able to empower the Numemon and give a weak and hungry Agumon enough strength to warp digivolve into Wargreymon. Looking back, I think that this was a manifestation of her crest's power, possibly the strongest manifestation we've seen, and we didn't even realize it. We've also seen some of the power of Will's crest. The ability to close digital gates and pass effortlessly into the Dark Ocean are, I think, manifestations of the Dark crest's power." Izzy finished his analysis and leaned back.

"So if we can figure out a way to control this power, then we can do amazing things with our crests," Davis said. "Perhaps Veemon will be able to digivolve to ultimate!"

"That's an accurate summation," Izzy responded. "But believe it or not, I think Will is the closest. It helps that he still has the physical tag and crest; because it lets him more easily channel the power of his crest. He can control his passage to and from the Dark Ocean, and that means that he's controlling his crest's power, whether he realizes it or not." Just then, the phone rang.

Izzy picked it up. "Hello . . . are you sure? . . . Alright, we'll be right there!" Izzy slammed the receiver down. "That was Matt. We've got a big problem."


	30. Tokyo Drift

Chapter 30: Tokyo Drift

Ken had left me with the other digimon at Davis's house while they went to see Kari. We had wanted to go, but the hospital had strict rules about not letting pets in the building, and they had already seen that we weren't toys. While we aren't really pets either, the hospital people wouldn't budge.

We spent most of the day playing tag, which was a fun game despite its simplicity. It was very relaxing to have a day to just fool around instead of having to worry about fighting. Davis's mother was very nice to all of us, too. Gatomon didn't seem to have as much fun, though. I could tell she was still worried about Kari. The doctors had said that Kari would be fine, but Gatomon really wanted to visit her partner. I can relate to that feeling. I miss Ken whenever we're separated, and I can't imagine what I would do if he was ever hurting and I could not go to him.

Eventually the games of tag devolved into a game of catch Veemon and tackle him to the ground, which was equally fun for everyone except Veemon. When we were all tired out and took a break, he was able to laugh at it, though. Unfortunately our fun didn't last very long.

"Wormmon!" I heard Ken calling out my name. We all looked toward the voice and saw all of our partners arriving. "Sorry, but we've got to go, right now," ken said, picking me up.

"What's wrong Davish?" Veemon asked.

"Daemon's started sending digimon into the city. We've got to try and stop them!" Davis explained.

"They're probably the crazy digimon. Gennai said he was gathering them at the portal," TK said.

We ran out of the house and into the street. It was beginning to rain lightly, causing a little bit of mist to rise up and shroud things that were far away.

"TK, you take Gatomon and Patamon and go to the hospital to make sure no digimon attack it. Yolei, you go, too. With Kari there you'll be able to digivolve Gatomon and Hawkmon into Silphymon if you need to," Ken said.

"Right," Yolei and TK both responded as they spilt off from us in a different direction.

"Where are we going?" Davis asked.

"We're going to meet up with Izzy and Mimi in the park and then we'll try to run through the city and cure as many digimon as possible. Our other digimon will try to keep them from doing too much damage," Ken explained.

"Izzy said everyone else is already trying to subdue the digimon, but there are too many for them to protect the entire city," Cody said.

We raced down the street as fast as possible. Luckily Ken and Davis both play soccer, and Cody practices Kendo, so they were all able to run the entire way. By the time we arrived at the park, the rain had turned into a downpour, completely drenching us all.

"Jeez, what took you?" Mimi asked from under a pink umbrella.

"We had to get our digimon at Davis's house," Cody explained.

"No time for small talk guys, we've got to get moving," Izzy said. "Mimi, I'm sorry but I'll need your umbrella to protect my computer."

"Oh, uh, alright," Mimi said, resigning herself to being soaked like everyone else. She held the umbrella out over Izzy's hands as he opened his laptop.

"Alright, the closest digimon are this way," Izzy said as he began to lead us north out of the park. We followed closely, with Mimi holding the umbrella over Izzy's laptop as we ran. The rain seemed to get even harder, and off in the distance we could hear the roar of thunder.

"Davis, I think we should get ready to fight now," Ken said.

"Good idea," Davis agreed as we sprinted up the street. Through the rain, the outline of a digimon was coming into view. I focused all of my strength, and the familiar energy of digivolution began to pulse through my body.

Wrommon digivolve to…..:::::Stingmon!

"Ken, it's very hard to fly in this rain," I told him. I was running beside them to save my strength, flying through this would be too tiresome.

"Alright, but be ready to in case we come across any flying digimon," Ken said. He turned to Davis. "I think we'd be better off with two different digimon. Go with Raidramon here because of his speed," Ken advised.

"Right! Let's go Veemon!" Davis said.

Veemon, armor digivolve to…..:::::Raidramon!

"Cody, you and Armadillomon save your strength for now. We only need to distract the digimon so that Palmon can get a clear shot at them," Ken said, finishing the battle plan.

"Of course. But don't push Stingmon and Raidramon too hard," Cody said.

"Izzy, I think it might be wise if I saved my strength as well," Tentomon said. "In any case, I'm finding it very hard to fly in this weather as well."

"Don't worry, Stingmon and Raidramon are fast enough that we shouldn't have a problem," Izzy replied.

"Well then maybe they should go stop that thing, because it's moving away from us and we're not catching up to it very quickly," Davis said.

"I'm on it!" Raidramon said as he dashed forward into the rain. In moment the digimon was stopped, and we heard a loud roar. As we closed in, we saw a Tyrannomon fighting with Raidramon.

"Raidramon! Draw him away from the building!" Izzy yelled. Raidramon dashed out into the street, dodging the Tyrannomon's fiery attacks. Palmon ran up behind the dinosaur digimon.

"Poison Ivy!" Palmon called out as she launched her vines at Tyrannomon. Its bloodshot eyes quickly returned to normal, and it stop struggling against the vines in only seconds. The giant digimon scanned its surroundings with a confused look on its face.

"Alright, the digital gate is open," Izzy said, running forward with his laptop. He turned the screen toward Tyrannomon and pressed a key. The digimon was dragged through the gate.

"Great, that's one," Davis said.

"No time to lose, there's lots more! Hurry!" Izzy called out as he led us off through the rain in another direction.

We ran around the city for hours. Eventually Raidramon and I had to give over to Kabuterimon and Digmon because we were too tired. We rendezvoused with Tai, Matt, and Sora temporarily to take care of the digimon that Greymon, Garurumon, and Birdramon had corralled into an abandoned factory, and then kept running through the city. The streets were becoming rivers because of the rain, which only seemed to be getting worse. It was nearly impossible to see more than a block down the street, which made finding the digimon very hard. Even worse was the thunder, which we often confused for the sound of a raging digimon. We lost all sense of time as we desperately tried to find all of the digimon that had been released.

By this time, the storm had become so bad that no cars or pedestrians were out on the streets, leaving us free to run through them as quickly as possible. However, the water was beginning to clog up the sewer systems, and the streets were beginning to flood. In some lower areas we could see cars being carried away by the rising water.

"This has to be the worst storm we've had in years! Why'd it have to be today?" Davis complained.

"Don't worry; we've only got one more stop. Joe and Ikkakumon have managed to trap a whole heard of Gizamon in a convenience store. If we can get all of them cured and back to the digital world, we'll be done," Izzy assured us.

We found Joe outside of the convenience store. Ikkakumon had his horn pointed at the door and was poking the Gizamon back in as they tried to escape. They all had the familiar bloodshot eyes that were sure signs of the toxic herbs.

"Hurry Izzy, Ikkakumon can't keep them trapped much longer," Joe said.

"Alright, Kabuterimon and Digmon, When Ikkakumon backs up, you have to make sure that the Gizamon don't get off of this stretch of road. Palmon will start attacking them as quickly as possible. Veemon and Wormmon, use whatever strength you have left to protect Palmon. Ready, now!" Izzy screamed.

Ikkakumon leapt back away from the door, and the Gizamon came swarming out. Kabuterimon and Digmon managed to block their escape routes down the street, and Palmon began hitting them with her vines as fast as she could. Some of them tried to attack us, but my string attack managed to tie them up until Palmon could get to them. After several minutes of frantically trying to contain the Gizamon, we managed to get all of them cured, and Izzy sent them back to the digital world through his computer.

"Phew," Izzy said as he leaned against the wall of the store. "We've finally gotten them all."

"I don't think we're done for the day yet Izzy," Joe said.

"What are you talking about Joe?" Cody asked.

"It wasn't supposed to rain today. It was supposed to be bright and sunny. I understand that meteorologists aren't perfect, but for such a massive storm to spring up out of nowhere is beyond comprehension. I think there's a digimon involved."

"Does that mean we're not done fighting?" Davis asked.

"I hadn't thought of that," Izzy said. "Do you think it could be Daemon?"

"I'm positive that it is," Cody said.

"Why's that?" Ken asked.

"Because TK just told me so. Daemon is on top of the hospital building creating this storm!" Cody exclaimed.

"We've got to get there right now!" Izzy said. "If Daemon is causing this, he'll flood the whole city. In fact, he may be planning to do this to hundreds of cities around the world. His plan must be to distract us with crazy digimon while he sinks the city with a massive storm. Not to mention the danger that TK, Kari, and Yolei are in!"

"TK said that he hasn't seen them yet," Cody assured us. "Still, we need to hurry."

"Izzy, I think it's time you found that power that let you read Ricky's email again," Kabuterimon said.

"You're absolutely right. The sky is the fastest way there, and you're going to take us," Izzy said. Through the rain, I could see a soft glow coming from Izzy's chest.

Kabuterimon digivolve to…..:::::Megakabuterimon!

We all climbed onto Megakabuterimon's head and he took off into the sky like lightning. The enormous insect digimon had no much less trouble flying through the rain than I had had as Stingmon. Riding on him, we could see the hospital in seconds. Standing on top was a figure which we had only seen for a short time a year ago, but that had been stronger than Imperialdramon. He was gathering power to himself, creating the wind and heat needed to summon up such a massive storm.

"We have to stop him quickly, otherwise this storm is only going to get worse," Izzy said. "Go for it, Megakabuterimon!"

"Horn Buster!" The insect roared. He slammed his horn into the back of the unsuspecting Daemon. The demonic digimon was blasted off of the roof and through the wall of the nearby skyscraper. Megakabuterimon landed on the hospital's roof and let all of us climb off of his head. We looked up and immediately saw Daemon, rising out of the hole in the building, anger burning in his eyes.

"So, a little insect has come to play with me," he said as he stared down at us. "I suppose I should be more careful, lest your overgrown mosquito bite me again."


	31. River of Power

Chapter 31: River of Power

"How soon do you think they'll get here?" TK asked.

"They had better get here soon. Daemon will wash away all of Japan if they don't!" Yolei said.

"Calm down Yolei, I'm sure they'll be here any minute now," I replied, placing my wing on her shoulder.

I was standing on a table in Kari's hospital room, hiding out until we could get more reinforcement to take on Daemon. We had the window open so that we could hear if anything happened outside, and the rain was slanting into the room, making an increasingly large puddle on the floor. Of course the puddle was the last of our worries at that time.

"Well they had better get here soon. We can't take him on without Imperialdramon," Yolei said.

Kari smiled at her from the bed. "Don't worry Yolei, we've been in tight places before, and our friends have always . . ."

Her reassuring words were cut short by the shaking of the building and the resonating cry of 'Horn Buster' high above our window.

"What was that?" Yolei said.

"It must be Megakabuterimon! They're here!" TK said. He ran to the window and peered out. "They must have landed on the roof. I can't see them."

Yolei and I wandered over to the window along with Patamon.

"Should we go up there and help?" Patamon asked.

"Yeah, I think that's a good idea," TK said. Just as Patamon and I jumped out the window into the rain, Megakabuterimon slid over the side of the roof followed by a massive burst of fire which lit up the raindrops and skyscrapers like a lightning flash. Megakabuterimon began to fall towards the street out of control.

"Patamon help him!" TK screamed.

Patamon digivolve to...:::::Angemon!

Angemon dove underneath Megakabuterimon and caught the enormous insect digimon as he fell. Using all six of his wings, Angemon managed to slow their fall and land softly on the ground.

"Nice catch," Megakabuterimon said.

"We've got to get back up there; they could still be in danger!" Angemon yelled. Both digimon took off toward the roof again.

"Hawkmon, I think it's time you got involved," Yolei said.

"You too, Gatomon," Kari said.

Hawkmon digivolve to...:::::Aquilamon!

Aquilamon, Gatomon, DNA digivolve to...:::::Silphymon!

My mind melded together with Gatomon's and we seemed to become a single being. With incredible agility and grace, we bounced off of the ledges of the skyscrapers and leapt up onto the roof. Angemon and Megakabuterimon arrived right after us.

Before us, we could see Davis, Mimi, Izzy, Cody, Joe, and Ken all anxiously waiting to see if Megakabuterimon would return. Veemon, Wormmon, Armadillomon, Gomamon, and Palmon were there also. Behind them, hovering high above the hospital's roof, was Daemon, covered in his dark red cloak, only his glowing red eyes visible under the hood.

"Alright, now we've got a better chance!" Davis exclaimed.

We all attacked at once. Megakabuterimon and Angemon flew at him while we charged a Static Force attack. All three of us launched our attacks at once, and they exploded around him, giving off a bright light and an enormous amount of smoke.

We waited tensely for the smoke to clear. Unfortunately, before it did, three massive fire blasts flew out of it. One knocked Megakabuterimon backwards into an adjacent building, another struck Angemon and slammed him down onto the roof. The last one hit Gatomon and I, and our combined form was thrown from the rooftop in a blaze of furious fire.

We couldn't see anything. We had lost all sense of direction, and knew only that we were falling. The rain seemed to be spraying in all directions, and hot fire still burned on our feathers and in our fur. The sensation suddenly ended, and when we regained our composure, we could see the ground several stories below. We turned and saw that Palmon had managed to catch us with her vines. She quickly pulled us back up to the roof and set us down on our feet. A few feet away, Angemon was slowly rising. Above us, Megakabuterimon was lodged in the building, hardly moving. Daemon still floated above the horrific scene, completely unscathed by our attack.

"They can't do it by themselves, Veemon," Davis said. "You've got to digivolve."

"I . . . I . . . I can't, Davish. I'm too tired from all the fighting today," Veemon said. He was still struggling to gather enough energy to digivolve, but he was just too tired. A few feet away, Wormmon was having the same problem.

"Palmon, you'll have to try. There's no one else," Mimi said, looking at her digimon.

"Here we go," Palmon said as she ran forward.

Palmon digivolve to...:::::Togemon!

A giant cactus with boxing gloves always seems to stir up different emotions, but Togemon only seemed to amuse Daemon.

"You fools cam here to fight me, yet you haven't even close to enough power to harm me. You don't even fully understand what it is you're fighting for," Daemon cackled. "Flame Inferno!"

Togemon was hit by the full force of the blast and was sent skidding back across the roof in a ball of fire right to the precipice. As she began to slip over the edge, she managed to grab on but was unable to pull herself up.

Mimi sprinted over to her digimon. "C'mon Togemon, climb back up. We need you.

"I can't, Mimi. I'm not strong enough," Togemon choked out.

"Please try, Togemon. We need you. I know you can do it," Mimi said as she grabbed one of the enormous boxing gloves and started to pull. A soft pink light began to surround Mimi, and Togemon suddenly exploded with a brilliant light. The cactus body seemed to fade away as it bloomed into a flower and slowly rose up into the air.

Togemon digivolve to...:::::Lilymon!

"Togemon digivolved, but we're still outmatched here," Ken said. "Even Imperialdramon wasn't able to defeat Daemon before."

"Veemon, we need you, you've got to try harder," Davis pleaded.

"I am, Davish, but I don't have the strength left," Veemon whined.

We stared up at the apparently invincible digimon. He seemed to be savoring his apparent victory, staring down at us with his terrifying eyes, his wings twitching slightly as the cold rainwater cascaded off of them. Not that it mattered, he didn't need them to fly.

"Now, I think I should end this futile contest," Daemon grinned. He began to summon enormous amounts of fire to his hands. The light grew brighter and brighter, and steam began to rise as the rain around the flame quickly evaporated. All we could do was watch and wait. Our attacks wouldn't be able to stop him.

"We need to get out of here, now," Joe said.

"How do you propose we do that?" Davis asked.

"Veemon will break down the door to that stairwell and we run," Joe said simply.

"Why do we always have to run?" Davis complained.

"Because he's about to incinerate us with a giant fireball," Joe replied.

Suddenly, seven large black pentagon beams slammed into Daemon from his left, sending him rocketing down the street and causing the fireball to dissipate into the atmosphere. Daemon quickly righted himself and returned to his previous spot, facing off against Metalskullhydramon. Will was riding on the three-horned head.

"Well, it's been quite a while since I fought this beast,' Daemon said, not even seeming phased.

"I think you'd be rather wise to get out of here now!" Will screamed at Daemon from on top of the beast's head.

"Oh, I find that rather unlikely. You snuck up on me and managed to knock me down, but I seriously doubt that you'll use the Abomination attack in this setting. It would kill far too many people. Thus, you have no power over me here," Daemon grinned.

"We'll see who has the real power," Will said. The massive dragon's heads all fired their pentagon-shaped attacks once again, but Daemon was ready this time.

"Flame Inferno!" the demon digimon roared. The flames engulfed the dragon's attacks and rushed towards it. Six of the dragon's heads rushed to defend the head that Will was standing on. They managed to block the flame temporarily, but they couldn't keep it up forever. The black metal armor was beginning to glow red with the heat, and steam from the rain rose in a massive pillar above the six heads.

The seventh head ducked away and set Will down on the ground and then turned back to Daemon, but even now the mighty dragon could do nothing but defend itself. To look up and attack would have allowed the flames to bypass the armor and strike the much weaker bone body.

"Can't we do something to help?" Mimi asked.

"Daemon's too strong, there's nothing we can do," Ken said.

"We've got to get out of here. Metalskullhydramon is buying us time, but it can't last much longer," Joe said.

"But if we go inside he'll just burn down the entire hospital to get us," Cody said.

"Wait, what was that?" Izzy asked.

"What was what Izzy?" Joe said as he looked over at him.

"I could have sworn I saw something between the . . . there it was again! I did see something!" Izzy exclaimed.

"What was it?" Lilymon asked.

"I'm not sure, but it was big," Izzy said.

"Is that it?" Joe said, pointing behind Daemon. We all looked up again to see yet another massive dragon, this time with only one head, and another boy riding on top of it.

"River of Power!" the Metalseadramon roared as it released a massive blast of water from its snout.

Daemon turned in time to see the blast and immediately threw all of his flames at it, trying desperately to block the stream. The attacks ended in a stalemate.

We all stared at the new arrival. The boy looked familiar, though I couldn't quite place where I'd seen him before. His blonde hair was matted down over his head which made it more difficult to see exactly what he looked like.

Mimi, however, recognized him immediately. "It's Michael!"

Daemon glanced back and forth between the two dragons. In terms of size, they had him outmatched a thousand times, but we knew all too well that looks can be deceiving.

"You humans always have the worst timing," Daemon said slowly.

"Get out of here before I decide to hurt you," Michael said.

"Very well. It would be rather foolish of me to risk fighting now, when it will be so much easier to kill you all off later," Daemon laughed. He seemed to explode in a massive ball of fire, and then there was nothing but the rain where he had once been.

Looking back up at the newcomer, we could now see that Michael was not the only one riding on Metalseadramon. Another boy and two girls were there, along with three more digimon. Metalseadramon lowered them down onto the roof, where they got off. The Metalseadramon then returned to its rookie stage, Betamon.

Metalskullhydramon picked Will up again and brought him up to the roof, then digivolved all the way back to Dremon. They both turned to look at the other four kids.

There was a long silence as they stared at each other. The rain was still beating heavily upon everyone, but none of us dared to move. The tension was so great that it seemed that the tiniest sound would cause the whole city to collapse.

"Hey, Will," Michael said, in English.

Will stared back, wearing a very strange expression on his face, some kind of mix between fear, surprise, and anger.

"Hi," he said at last. I was stunned that the entire universe didn't collapse. Instead, the rain just continued to pound away at us.

"You know what, I think we should all go inside and check on Kari," Izzy suggested. Will looked over at him.

"Yeah, that's a good idea," he said emotionlessly. His face seemed drained of any color.


	32. Why the Sand Falls

Chapter 32: Why the Sand Falls

From the hospital room, the three of us were only able to listen to the sounds of the battle which raged above us. We couldn't really decipher very much from those sounds, and I desperately wished that I could do something to help. Unfortunately, I couldn't even sit up yet without having a stinging pain rip through my stomach. As long as the sounds of battle continued to rage, I continued to hope for everyone's safety. It was when the sounds stopped suddenly that I froze in fear. Could that mean that they've won? Could they have lost? I was desperate for any kind of news about the battle. They had to have won. They just had to.

A knock on the door caused all three of us to turn towards it instantly.

"Hello?" I said cautiously, hoping that it was someone with news about the fight.

"Kari, it's Tai. Can we come in?" the voice outside the door said.

"Of course, Tai," I responded. Perhaps he had seen the battle. At least I hoped he had.

Tai walked in, followed by Matt, Sora, Shark, and their digimon.

"Do you guys know what happened out there?" TK asked immediately.

"Daemon took off when these other kids showed up," Matt said.

"What other kids?" Yolei asked.

"I think one of them is that Michael kid," Tai said.

"Michael," Shark said, catching the name. He spoke in English, despite the obvious futility of it. "That was Michael on Metalseadramon." He looked at the confused faces, thought for a second, and then tried a new approached. He pointed outside, began nodding his head frantically, and said, "Michael, yes, Michael," over and over again until Tai held up his hand, indicating that he got the point.

"Okay, I guess it is Michael then," Tai announced his conclusion.

"So we won the fight?" I asked hopefully.

"I wouldn't really say we won. Daemon left, but not because we really had him beaten," Matt said. Drakamon digivolved to Metalskullhydramon again, but wasn't able to fight Daemon successfully. We just watched from the street and we ran inside as soon as Daemon was gone."

Just then we heard the sound of footsteps, a lot of them, coming down the hallway. The door opened and everyone began streaming into the room. Joe and Izzy were first, followed by Will, Mimi, and all of their digimon. Davis, Cody, and Ken were next along with their digimon. Then the four newcomers came in. I recognized Michael from when Mimi had introduced us a year ago. There were also two girls, who both looked to be about sixteen, and a very small boy who was my age but could have passed for being nine if he needed to. Everyone was completely soaked from the storm.

"Shark, I see you found them alright," Michael said in English, not really looking at the boy.

"The map helped, I guess," Shark said, staring coldly at Michael. "Why'd you show up?"

"We thought you might need help," Michael said. "Should we leave?"

"I don't give a damn what you do," Shark said, still staring Michael down coldly. There was another long silence.

Tai couldn't take not knowing what was happening. "Um, could someone fill in the peanut gallery, please?" he asked in Japanese.

"Will, hasn't told you yet?" Michael replied in Japanese. He looked over at Will, who turned his gaze towards the wall.

"Well, I suppose I can't blame him. I'll explain everything now, if that's alright," Michael said, again in Japanese. He looked toward Will, but Will wouldn't respond. He just kept staring at the wall. We all turned back to Michael and waited for the story.

"It was about three years ago when we were all sucked into the digital world. Will, Shark, Jesse, Ricky, Laura, and myself were all in New York for a major swimming event, and we were on a rooftop and were all dragged in. We managed to survive, though, with the help of the digimon we met. We traveled through the world, trying to find a way back home and defeating evil digimon as we went. I'm sure our adventure wasn't too different from your own, at least until we began the search for the crests."

"I was the first to find a crest, the crest of faith. Shark was second when he found the crest of serenity. Laura then found the crest of empathy, and Jesse found the crest of harmony. Our digimon all managed to reach ultimate level, but we still had to find the last two crests. Eventually we found Ricky's crest of dreams. It was around this time also that we met Daemon for the first time. He talked of shrouding the digital world in darkness, and destroying all forms of life that he deemed unworthy. We saw first hand an example of the darkness he planned for the digital world when right before our eyes he killed off a village of peaceful Woodmon. It scared all of us, and what was even scarier is that we didn't have the power to stand up to him. Then we found Will's crest, the crest of darkness."

"We were stunned when we realized what the crest was. We were all so freaked out by the darkness, and by what we thought the darkness stood for, that we forgot that Will was part of our group. All of our digimon digivolved, and we began to attack him. We thought he had betrayed us, and that he was working with Daemon. We all went after him and Drakamon, except for Shark. Shark held back, despite my please for his help when Drakamon digivolved to Hydramon and then Skullhydramon. Skulhydramon managed to protect Will and flee with him into the forest. We didn't give chase, because we didn't know if we could defeat Skullhydramon. After that happened, Shark decided that he had to do some soul searching, at least that's what he told us. He went into the forest and found Will and Drakamon. Meanwhile, the four of us continued on looking for a way to defeat Daemon. It was by far the darkest time our group ever faced."

"It wasn't long before Daemon learned that we had split, and he attacked us himself. Betamon managed to digivolve all the way to Metalseadramon, but we still couldn't defeat Daemon. That's when Metalskullhydramon showed up again. His Abomination attack managed to catch Daemon off-guard and destroy him. Unfortunately, we were still fools. I ordered Metalseadramon to attack Metalskullhydramon, and they had a ferocious battle. It wasn't until Shark tackled me to the ground and started yelling at me that I realized what was actually happening. The battle stopped before either digimon was seriously hurt."

"With Daemon gone, we had only one goal left, get back home. Shark and Will had found a gate during their travels, but it was far away from us at that point. I'm sorry to say this, but all of us were too embarrassed to try to make peace with Will. Instead, we all just started walking toward the gate. That's when the dark crest first reacted with the dream crest. They caused Daemon to be reborn right in our midst. Luckily, he was weaker than he had been, and he fled. We never heard from him again until just now in the battle outside. At first we were going to go after him, but Will couldn't take it any more. He ran again. Shark didn't go with him this time, and instead just led us to the gate back to the real world. We saw Will the next day at the last day of the swim meet, but none of us could gather the courage to say anything to him. After the competition was over, Will returned to Buffalo, and only Shark heard from him after that, through email. The rest of us didn't now anything about him until we saw him again at the same national swimming competition the next year. I wanted to talk o him, but he did a good job of avoiding me. I saw him at that competition the next two years, but I never could get close enough to talk to him. Then Shark finally told me over the summer that he was moving to Japan. The rest is more all of your story than it is mine."

Michael sighed as he finished. Shark was leaning back against the wall with his head down and his eyes closed. He didn't understand any of the words, but he didn't have to. He knew what Michael was saying.

"So you see, we came here not just to stop Daemon, but to try and find Will again," Michael concluded. He looked around the room, but the boy in question was nowhere to be seen.

"Where did he go?" Sora asked.

"He didn't go out the door," Joe assured us. "I've been leaning on it the entire time."

Then we saw Drakamon, curled up in a corner, apparently ignoring everyone in the room.

"Drakamon, do you know where he went? Tai asked. The digimon was silent. It didn't even acknowledge Tai.

"I know where he went," I said. "He went to the Dark Ocean." Everyone looked at me, and for some reason they all looked surprised.

"What's everyone staring at?" I asked.

"Kari, you're sitting up," Cody answered. I glanced around. I wasn't even aware of it, but I was sitting up, and there was no pain in my stomach.

"It must be the light crest," Izzy said. "It healed her again."

As surprised as I was at this, I didn't want to let it distract me. I looked toward Ken. "Can you please send me to the Dark Ocean, ken?" I asked.

"Why? Kari what are you . . .?"

"I want to talk to Will," I said, cutting him off. "Your D-3 can still open a gate, can't it?"  
"I think so," he said. He looked around the room, hoping that someone would object. Perhaps Tai, or TK, or anybody. Finding no one, he resigned himself to trying. "Alright, here goes nothing." He held out his digivice and closed his eyes. The portal slowly began to open around me, and I could feel myself slipping out of the hospital bed and through the rift. The faces in the room faded away, replaced by the dark gray sky and colorless landscape of the Dark Ocean. I was once again on the beach, staring out at the motionless black water. I had only my hospital gown, and no shoes. The sand felt cool beneath my feet, but for some reason I didn't have the sinking dark feeling that I usually had whenever I came here. It was as if I understood the darkness, and so now it couldn't affect me. I recalled the stars, and the tree branch, and the snow and the sky, and I nodded slightly to myself.

There was no pain as I walked along the shore. Apparently Izzy's theory that my crest had healed me was correct. I wandered along the bleak shore, not really sure where I was going, but knowing somehow that I would eventually come upon Will.

I was right. Off in the distance, I could see the lone figure standing, staring out at the endless darkness of the still ocean.

I approached slowly, quietly, hoping that I would know what to tell him when I got there. As I got closer, I could see that there were tears in his eyes, although he had not allowed any to slide down his cheeks yet. I sensed that he knew I was there, and that he wasn't going to say anything unless I did. I turned toward the ocean, and stared out at it with him. I had never noticed how peaceful it looked, sitting there, unmoving, occasionally reflecting fluctuations in the darkened sky.

"Will, can I be your friend?" I asked, turning slowly toward him. He turned to face me. His expression was scared and sad, and he was still struggling to hold the tears up in his eyes as he remembered everything that had happened.

"Will, I just want to be a friend. To forget everything about the past. I don't care about your dark crest or Daemon or Myotismon or anything like that. I just care about you," I told him, staring straight into his eyes.

"I still don't know, Kari," Will said, straining to keep his voice level. "I don't see why all this had to happen. This thing is so terrible; I can't understand why it had to be mine,"

"Will, you can't let the darkness control you. Bad things happen, but they need to happen. If we went through our entire lives never being sad, we would never know how wonderful it really is to be happy. If the sky never got dark at night, we would never be able to see the stars. Don't you see, Will? We have to have darkness in order to be able to see the light. The darkness is a good thing, because it makes us appreciate all that is good in life," I said, almost starting to cry myself.

Will stared into my eyes, and I stared back. Something happened right then, and I don't know just what, but I know that he now understood what the stars and the branch had taught me. His dark crest was still a positive crest, just like all the other crests.

A single tear finally slid down his cheek, his eyes being too full to hold back any longer. It ran down to his chin, hung there for a second, and then dropped down onto the sand, making a tiny little indent. I smiled at him, and through his tear-filled eyes, he smiled back at me. He suddenly embraced me in a tight hug, and he was no longer able to keep himself from sobbing. I returned the hug happily, and we stood there for minutes, just holding onto each other, not wanting the moment to end.

Slowly, he pulled away from me and put his hands on my shoulders. We both smiled as we looking into each other's eyes, wordlessly expressing the thoughts that rushed through our heads. Somehow we slowly drew closer and closer to each other, until our lips met in a warm and indescribably perfect kiss. I'm not sure what exactly had clicked inside of me, but I could feel my blood rushing as my heart seemed to fly up at the incredible sensation. I had never felt anything so exhilarating in my life.

The sound of a wave crashing on the shoreline caused us both to separate and turn to the ocean. The water washed a short ways up the dry sand, and then receded back into the ocean, which immediately returned to its motionless state.


	33. Daemon's Earring

_Author's Note: Thank you to Chinaman8 who pointed out that I submitted the wrong document initially for this chapter. It's fixed now._

Chapter 33: Daemon's Earring

"What do you think is taking her so long?" Tai asked. He was really beginning to worry. "What if she couldn't find him, and now she can't get back?"

"Don't say stuff like that, Tai," Sora said. "I'm sure she'll be back any minute now."

"What is the Dark Ocean?" Michael asked. We were somewhat surprised that he didn't know, but it made sense that he wouldn't.

"It's another parallel world, kind of like the digital world, only without any color. It's where all kinds of negative emotions form," ken explained to him. "Not all of us have been there. Only Kari, Will, TK, Yolei, and myself."

"Did Will ever tell you about it, Shark?" Michael asked in English.

"About what?" Shark responded. Of course, he hadn't understood the rest of the conversation.

"The Dark Ocean. A separate world that his crest can apparently take him to," Michael explained.

"What, the colorless place?" Shark asked. "If that's it, then he took me there once, when we were alone together in the woods. After a few weeks he told me that his crest was taking him to a weird place every few nights, so I went with him. You callin' that a Dark Ocean now?"

"Well, that's what they've named it," Michael said, indicating the Japanese digidestined. Shark just rolled his eyes and let his head fall back against the wall.

Suddenly, the space in the corner where Drakamon was curled up began to twist and turn dark. Drakamon sprang up in surprise and slithered quickly away. The warp turned dark black, and then slowly began to return to color, with two all-too familiar figures taking shape as the darkness vanished, Kari, still in her hospital gown and barefoot, and Will, gripping her hand tightly with one hand and his crest and tag with the other.

Michael stepped towards Will, his intent rather obvious to everyone. Kari smiled at Will and then stepped away.

"Will," Michael began. "I, I guess there's nothing we can say that can change what happened. We acted rashly; we didn't even stop to think about how much we had already been through together. I want to make it right, though. Please, can you forgive us?"

Will began to smile at last. "Yeah, I think it's time to move on," he said, in English, though. The little boy behind Michael peeked around him hopefully.

"Does that mean we're a team again?" Ricky asked in English.

"I guess so," Will replied.

Michael then turned to Shark. "Shark, I'm sorry for everything I've said about you. You come off a bit odd sometimes, but you're a good person, and much more understanding than I am."

"C'mon Prep, at least give yourself a little credit. You suck at judging people but at least you figure it out eventually," he grinned. "And I still haven't gotten that race outta you yet."

"I think everything's taken care of now," Mimi told us all.

"In that case, do you think we could all go home and get dried off," Joe said.

"That sounds like a good idea, Joe," Matt said.

"Kari just has to be cleared to leave," Tai reminded us.

"I'll go get the doctor," Sora volunteered.

Outside, the rain was finally beginning to let up. The streets in some of the lower areas of the city were still class four rapids, but for the most part the city would be able to survive the flash flooding. Not that it mattered to any of us, we were still completely soaked.

It took almost an hour before the doctor would concede that some kind of miracle had healed Kari's stomach. When she finally walked into the waiting room, we had already determined where the American digidestined were staying. Michael said they would find a hotel, but Tai wouldn't allow that. Shark would still stay with Will; Michael would stay with Izzy, Ricky with Ken, and Jesse and Laura with Mimi. Sora had volunteered us, but the fact that she didn't speak English would have caused too many problems.

"I can't really explain it, and that makes me wary," the doctor said. "If there is even the slightest recurrence of pain, come back here immediately."

"Don't worry doctor, I'm sure I'm fine," Kari said.

"I'll look after her," Tai promised.

"Alright then, hurry home kids," the doctor said as he walked out of the room.

"Mom and Dad are going be surprised when they see you," Tai smiled as he and Kari joined the group. "So everything's all set up?"

"Yeah, as soon as Izzy gets off of his computer," Sora laughed.

"I just thought I'd check up on my emails real quick before we left," Izzy said. "You never know when something important might come up," Izzy said happily. He looked back at his monitor and a look of surprise suddenly came across his face.

"What is it Izzy?" Matt asked.

"It's Gennai. He says that we need to go to the digital world right away, and that there's no time to lose!" Izzy exclaimed.

"Are you serious?" Davis asked.

"Completely. I'm sorry guys, but it looks like we've got one more thing to do today," Izzy said.

"Give me a break," Davis moaned.

"Did he say what the problem is?" Tai asked.

"No, he only said that we shouldn't waste any time," Izzy set his laptop down on a chair in the waiting room. "I'm not real keen about leaving my laptop here, but it's the fastest way to the digital world."

"Veemon and I will stay here and guard it," Davis offered.

"In your dreams, Davis," Yolei said. "This is important, and we're all going." She stepped forward and held her D-3 up to the screen.

The little green light on the program Izzy had opened blinked on, and everyone crowded around. Despite being exhausted and still soaking wet, we all stepped through the gate into the digital world.

"Well, it's nice to see that you responded promptly," Gennai said. We were surprised to see him so soon. He rarely ever greeted us when we traveled to the digital world.

"What's the big deal, Gennai?" Matt asked.

"Well, I suppose you could say I found something very interesting over there, in that clearing," Gennai replied. "I want you to go and talk to him. Find out what happened to him and then come back here to talk to me."

"Why couldn't you have talked to him yourself?" Davis complained.

"Because I don't have a digimon to protect me, and I feared that it could be some kind of trick.

"Alright, who is it?" TK asked.

Gennai frowned, "Demidevimon."

"What?" we all said simultaneously.

"From the look of things, he's hurt badly. I came upon him while wandering through the woods, and he requested that I send for you. I'm not sure what he's planning, but I thought it best that you handle it," Gennai explained.

"But Demidevimon died, Venommyotismon killed him!" TK recalled.

"Perhaps Myotismon managed to revive him with the dark crest while I was captured," Will said.

"Regardless of how he got back here, he is here, and he wanted to see you all," Gennai said.

"It's probably a trick. I'll bet Daemon is hiding in the woods somewhere," Gatomon said. "Demidevimon was never anything but trouble."

"We should at least go see what he wants," Mimi said. Everyone looked at her. "I mean, we should be careful, in case it is a trap, but don't you think it would be silly to just ignore him? If nothing else, he can give us some important information, perhaps."

"Mimi's right. Trap or no trap, we could learn something important by talking to him. We know he's fairly weak, so he's not much of a threat," Tai said.

Tai then proceeded to lead the way to the clearing, with Agumon following closely behind. We all slowly went after them, curiosity finally getting the better of us.

"This is stupid," Gatomon said. "Demidevimon never does anything but cause trouble."

"Whoa," Tai said upon entering the clearing. We all rushed ahead to see what had surprised him. In the middle of the clearing, beneath a few bushes which were slowly beginning to lose their leaves, the aptly described black bowling ball with wings and talons was crumpled in a bloody pile. There were disgusting burns all across his body, his wings were sliced up like confetti, and his left eye was swollen shut. He was gasping for breath. Blood flowed freely from the many open wounds across his body, and I actually felt pity for the little digimon who had always caused so many problems for us in the past.

"Oh no," Sora said, reaching out towards him.

"Don't touch!" Demidevimon yelled, flailing a claw at Sora's hand.

"But you're hurt. We can help you," Sora said.

"No, you can't. Nobody can help this," he gasped out, his breathing badly labored.

"But . . ." Sora tried to protest again.

"Quiet! Do you want me to tell you this or not?" Demidevimon screamed, wincing in pain at almost every word. Sora was quiet.

"What exactly happened to you?" Tai asked the little digimon.

"Daemon," Demidevimon choked out. "He came to kill Myotismon. He took the army too. I was going to be his servant, but he said I was too loyal to Myotismon. He threw me out of the castle and . . ." he groaned again, flailing his broken wings in uncontrollable spasms.

He calmed himself down again, although his breathing came harder than ever. "Now don't think . . . that I like you . . . I still hate every one of you . . . but Daemon I hate more . . . he's looking for an artifact . . . an earring . . .it got lost in the . . . human world . . . it will make him stronger . . . that's what he's really after . . . the crazy digimon and storms . . . they're just a . . . distraction . . . ah!" he erupted in spasms again, but when Sora tried to pick him up, he swiped his talon at her hand again.

"Stop it!" he said, choking on the words. "At Christmas . . . last year . . . when all the . . . gates . . . all over the world . . . opened." He groaned again, and was now gasping for breath. "The earring fell through . . . into the human . . . world . . . nobody knows where."

"Just how powerful is this earring?" Izzy asked.

"If he finds it . . . he'll be able to . . . transform . . . into . . . Magnadaemon . . . he'll be . . . invincible," Demidevimon said. Then another bout a seizures took him, twisting him around on the ground as he groaned in pain.

"Please, let us help you," Sora begged him. "You just helped us, now let us help you."

"I didn't . . . help you," he managed to gasp out. "I got revenge . . . on Daemon . . . for this . . ." he fell over and stopped moving. Slowly, his body began to disintegrate into data and dissolve into the atmosphere.

We all watched as the data of the little digimon floated away into the sky. We were all silent for a long time. All that remained was a small stain of blood on the ground under the bushes, splattered on the fallen leaves of early autumn.

"You know what, Biyo," Sora whispered to me.

"Yes Sora?"

"Maybe there really is some good deep down inside of everyone . . ."


	34. Crest of Dreams

Chapter 34: Crest of Dreams

"Why do you think he told us all that?" TK asked me.

"I don't know. He said he wanted to get revenge. Do you think that's really all?" I said.

"I . . . I don't know, Patamon. It's kind of hard to believe that he'd help us, and yet, there's no question that he just did."

"Daemon's a creep," Mimi said. "If he didn't want Demidevimon around, I wouldn't have blamed him, but he didn't have to do this."

"Well, this is another good reason for us to take care of him, once and for all," Tai said. "And the first thing we need to do is find that earring that Demidevimon told us about. As soon as we destroy it, we'll take down Daemon!"

The little boy, Ricky, suddenly stepped into the middle of the circle that had formed. He looked down at the tiny stain of blood in the dirt and leaves, and said something in English to Michael. "Do you think we could still help him?"

"What on earth do you mean?" Michael asked him, in English.

"I mean, could we still save him. Don't you think that it might be possible?" Ricky responded, looking up.

Most of us were watching the conversation with a confused look.

"Sora, what's happening?" I asked.

"Yeah, mind filling in the peanut gallery?" Sora said.

"Oh, sorry," Michael said in Japanese.

"I'll translate for them," Ken offered to Michael.

"Thank you, er, pardon me, I haven't learned your name," Michael said.

"I'm Ken," he replied.

Ricky then turned to Will. "We can help him, Will. With the crests, we can help him."

"Ricky, what exactly are you thinking of doing?" Will asked, still speaking in English.

"We can bring him back, can't we? The dark crest will attack my crest, and we can bring him back," Ricky said.

"I don't think it's that easy, Ricky," Michael said. "Have you forgotten what Harkin told us? Whatever is revived must have attacked the bearer of the non-dark crest at some point, and we just met Demidevimon. He's certainly never attacked you. Even if he had, the reaction between your crest and Will's will no longer be strong enough to revive even a low-level digimon like him."

"What if they helped?" Ricky said, indicating Kari and TK. "You said their crests react too, so they can help us."

"But Demidevimon still hasn't attacked them. Mimi told me all about him a few months ago, and he's never directly attacked them to her knowledge.

"But . . . is there really nothing we can do?" Ricky said, slouching down out of defeat.

Ken finished translating Michael's last sentence, and Kari immediately spoke up.

"He pulled my hair once, when I was eight," she told Michael. "Would that count?"

"I remember that too," Gatomon said. "I wanted to knock his brains out."

"I suppose it could work," Michael told Kari. "If you're both willing to try, I will not stand in your way."

"I suppose we owe it to him, for warning us about the earring," TK decided.

"I just hated seeing him hurt like that, I've got to help," Kari said. Michael turned to Will.

"It's worth a shot," Will said. He reached into his wet sweater and pulled out the crest and tag. The four of them stepped into the center of the group, making a small, tight circle around the spot where Demidevimon had been minutes before.

Slowly, Will held out the crest into the middle of the circle, allowing it to dangle from the string attached to its tag. Ricky reached out with one hand and very cautiously gripped the crest between his thumb and forefinger. Kari followed suit, extending her arm to the center of the circle and taking hold of a small piece of the crest. TK was the last, and he hesitated a little as he reached for the crest, but he managed to steel himself for the task and finally grasped the strange little trinket that apparently held so much power.

They stood there for almost a minute, and nothing seemed to happen. We were all very quiet, and kept on our guard, just in case something strange happened and a different monster was brought to life. After about ten minutes of the silence, everyone began to think that it was rather pointless.

"I'm sorry, Ricky," Michael said. "I just don't think that the reaction is strong enough any more."

"Guys, I think you should have a look at something," Matt said. He was pointing up into the sky. Floating above the little circle, just above the trees, was a large black egg that seemed to be made of nothing but wisps of smoke tied together to make ropes so thick that they could not be seen through.

"This happened when Myotismon was revived," TK said. "It is working."

The egg slowly grew larger and then it suddenly began to spin very quickly. The spinning became faster and faster until it seemed like the egg was going to create a tornado. Then Ricky, TK, and Kari all suddenly began radiating a brilliant light. It was as if we had all been in a very dark room and someone suddenly turned on three enormous searchlights pointed right in all of our faces. The light then seemed to travel up out of them, forming into three separate arrows of bright light, one green, one white, and one yellow. The three arrows collided with the egg, causing it to spray out a bright black light which seemed to casts some strange kind of shadow of light behind the trees and the leaves of the bushes.

In a massive explosion of dark energy, the egg shattered into millions of tiny fragments which fell to the ground and disintegrated upon being touched by the light that was now returning to normal. High above us, seeming to float in some kind of strange black aura which was slowly dwindling away, was Demidevimon.

As the strange mist faded, he opened his eyes and began to unconsciously flap his fully restored wings. He blinked a few times, unsure of where exactly he was, and then looked down at the crowd gathered below him.

"What, what happened?" he asked as he floated above us.

"Wow, I can't believe it worked," Izzy said. "This could be a major step in understanding the functioning of the crests true power."

"Demidevimon!" TK yelled up to him.

"Huh? What the hell is going on?" he screamed in confusion.

"We used our crests to bring you back to life!" TK told him.

"WHAT? Why would you do something stupid like that?" he protested.

"Because you helped us, so we wanted to help you," TK explained.

Demidevimon hovered in the air, unsure of exactly how to respond to this. He certainly wasn't about to thank us, in any case.

"Well, don't think that this means I'll do you any favors! You're all nuts for reviving me! I'll let you off easy now, but next time I see you, you'll be sorry you ever found me in the first place!" he screamed, and with that he flew off as fast as his tiny wings would carry him.

"Well, at least he's back to normal," Joe said sarcastically.

"Somehow, Joe, I don't think he'll ever be normal," Matt said.

"Well, we can forget about him for now," Sora said. "The next step is going to be finding that earring. Plus, Daemon might try to attack another city to look for it, and we've got to be prepared.

"Yeah, next time we'll get him for sure!" Davis exclaimed.

"How about as step one, we all get a good night's sleep," Joe suggested. "We've been running around in the rain all day fighting monsters and it's about time we hit the hay."

"C'mon, Joe. A few little monsters didn't really tire you out, did it?" Gomamon laughed.

"I think Joe's right. It's been a very long day, and we'll need our strength in case Daemon shows up again," Matt said.

"It's settled then. We'll meet tomorrow at the computer lab, early in the morning. It's open on Saturdays, right?" Tai said.

"We'll find a way in," Yolei assured him.

"In that case, everyone follow Izzy back to the human world!" Tai announced happily.

"Sora, do you think we'll be able to beat Daemon?" I asked. We were finally back home now, and Sora was just climbing into bed.

"Of course, Biyo. Will and his friends already beat him once, and now we've got Wargreymon and Metalgarurumon to help. He doesn't stand a chance."

"I wish I could digivolve to mega. Then I'd be able to help, too," I said with a sigh.

"Don't worry, Biyo, you can do a lot as Garudamon. Besides, I'm sure that someday you'll be able to digivolve to mega, it'll just take a little while," Sora said reassuringly.

I looked out the window at the sky. Thinking back on Sora's words, I knew I would have a chance, someday, to reach the ultimate level. Until then, I had to support my friends. If there's one thing we learned from our adventures in the digital world, it's that our friendships are stronger than any enemy we might ever face. In the end, our friends are all we have.

The walk to the junior high school wasn't a very long one, but I flew on ahead of Sora anyways, by her instruction. While knowledge about digimon was quickly spreading in the world, I would still draw stares if I just walked down the street.

I arrived at the school a little bit ahead of Sora. Joe and Gomamon had already made it there, as had Izzy and Tentomon, Yolei and Hawkmon, TK and Patamon, and Will and Drakamon. Shark and Michael were there as well along with their digimon, because they had been staying with Will and Izzy.

"How'd you guys get in already?" I asked as I flew in through the window.

"Don't ask," Joe said with a sigh. I saw in the background Shark and Michael arguing about something in English.

"What happened?" I asked, growing concerned.

"We were going to just find a janitor and tell him we were going to do a school project," Yolei began, "but then Shark just walked up to the door with his knife and a comb and picked the lock, and now Michael's mad at him for it."

"Oh no," I said.

"Don't worry, Biyomon, they've done this for as long as they've known each other," Will said. "If they weren't arguing about something, then I'd be worried." This evoked a small chuckle from the group, who thought it hilarious to hear the two babbling away at each other in what was basically complete gibberish as far as they were concerned.

"What are they saying?" Patamon asked.

"Basically, Michael is telling Shark that he needs to stop doing things that boarder on being illegal, and Shark is calling Michael a preppy snob, the same stuff they always said before," Will sighed. "Three years later, they still haven't changed a bit."

"Well while we're waiting for everyone, can you give us an outline of the plan, Izzy?"

"I suppose it's simple enough. We email all of the digidestined that we have on the network and ask them to search local pawn shops and jewelry stores for any suspicious earrings. Specifically, one that doesn't have a match," Izzy said.

"But I thought Davis botched the network," TK said.

"After Davis proved rather inefficient, I just took over myself, and now we've got a widespread community of international digidestined. I'll bet that as soon as we put out the notice, we'll get hundreds of possible earrings."

"Hundreds?" Yolei asked, frightened at the possibility.

"Don't worry; we'll split up the task of going through them and deciding which ones are worth further investigation. Also, some of us will have to check all the shops in Tokyo for . . ."

"I'd be glad to, thanks Izzy!" Yolei interrupted him with glee. Everyone laughed.

Sora finally wandered in, followed shortly by Matt and Gabumon, and then Mimi, Jesse, Laura, and their digimon. Michael and Shark had stopped arguing and were now joined the group, Shark standing close to Will so that the younger boy could translate for him. Jesse and Laura both stood by Mimi. Cody and Ken walked in next, trailed by their digimon, Armadillomon and Wormmon, and also by Ricky and his digimon, Candlemon.

"Alright, just a few more people and we'll have the whole squad," Izzy said. We heard footsteps coming down the hallway. "That's probably Tai and Kari right now."

It wasn't Tai and Kari, however. Instead, Davis and Veemon walked in the door.

"What, Davis isn't the last one here?" Yolei asked in a very sarcastic tone.

"Ha ha, very funny," Davis replied.

"That's strange. Tai is almost never late. Well, for team meetings anyways,' Izzy said.

"Kari probably slept in. I'll bet she's still tired from her stay in the hospital, and Tai didn't want to wake her," Cody suggested. Just then, we heard footsteps running down the hallway.

"There's that's probably them now," Matt said. Sure enough, Tai, Kari, and Agumon all ran in the door. They all looked winded and worried, like they had run the entire way here.

Veemon was the first to notice the hitch. "Where's Gatomon? He asked.

"That's the problem," Tai said. "We can't find her anywhere!"


	35. The Arrival of Impmon

Chapter 35: The Arrival of Impmon

"What do you mean she's gone?" Joe asked.

"We can't find her anywhere. We've been looking all over the place all morning, and there's no sign of her," Tai said.

"She wouldn't just run off on her own without telling us," Kari said. "I'm afraid something bad happened to her."

"Calm down everyone, let's not panic here," Izzy said. "I'm assuming you saw her before going to sleep last night, right Kari?"

"Yeah, but when I woke up, she was gone," Kari said.

"Was there anything unusual that you noticed, either last night or this morning?" Izzy asked.

"No, nothing. Do you think she could be in the digital world?" Kari asked.

"Perhaps she got dragged there by something, like when Gomamon and I were," Joe suggested.

"But what would have done it? Kari's crest wouldn't seem to have a good reason to," Izzy said.

"Do you think Demidevimon's involved?" Mimi asked.

"I suppose it's possible, but unlikely, seeing as Gatomon is so much stronger than him," Izzy said.

"Is there any way you can search the digital world for her, Izzy?" Tai asked.

"Actually, there may be," Izzy said. He sat down at a computer and booted it up. "Hm," he thought for a second, and then pulled out his laptop and connected it to the computer.

"Kari, give me your D-3," Izzy said. Kari promptly handed the device over. Izzy placed it in a special port that Gennai had added to his laptop and began typing. After a few minutes, he smiled.

"Prodigious! I've actually managed to match the signal from the digivice with a corresponding signal that Gatomon's data is giving off. Now I should be able to trace her signal just like the digivice's!" Izzy exclaimed, typing furiously.

"How long is it going to take?" Tai asked.

"Well, that depends on how difficult it is to transfer the signal into my tracking program. It could take a few minutes, though," Izzy said as he continued to pound away at the computer's keyboard.

"Okay, but hurry up," Tai said. "We're going after her as soon as you can get that thing to work."

"Well, we're still not sure that Gatomon is even in the digital world, but I should be able to . . . what the . . . something's blocking the tracing program!"

"What?" We all said at once.

"There's some kind of interference with the program, it won't let me run the tracer in the digital world!"

"Can you fix it, Izzy?" Ken asked.

"I can try, but . . . wait it's not even that, something's hacking my laptop!" Izzy yelled.

"Can you fix it?" Tai almost screamed in alarm.

"I'm trying, but it won't be easy," Izzy said. "Wait, what's this?"

"What is it, Izzy?" Tentomon asked.

"It's a message from the hacker. He says he wants to talk to us!" Izzy exclaimed

"Talk to us? About what?" Matt questioned.

"He claims to be a soldier in Daemon's army, but he can help us," Izzy told us before he continued reading. "He says that Gatomon was kidnapped by Daemon, but that he's willing to free her if we'll make a deal with him. He says that Daemon isn't involved in the deal at all."

"Somehow I doubt that this guy is really willing to betray Daemon like that. Did he say what he wants?" Matt said.

"No, he just said to meet him on the beach on File Island," Izzy stated.

"It sounds like a trap to me." Tai said.

"But remember Demidevimon? We thought that was a trap, too,' Matt reminded him.

"Well as long as Daemon doesn't have the earring, we can fight him on equal terms. I say we go find out what this guy wants," I suggested.

"Sora's right, there's a chance that this guy may be telling the truth. If he is, then I think it's worth the risk in order to get Gatomon back," Yolei said.

"Okay, then let's get going before he changes his mind," Davis said. Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Wow, it seems like we haven't been here in ages," I said as I looked around at the forest. The digital world had a variety of plant life, but the forests on File Island were unique and sometimes strange, even for the digital world. The trees grew in strange shapes, and we would often find randomly placed objects which would be perfectly normal were they not in a forest. The objects included anything from refrigerators to telephone booths, and any number of random buildings. The digital world was full of these random abnormalities, but File Island seemed to be the strangest of the strange.

"I wonder if Andromon's factory is still here." Izzy said. "And I wonder if it's still putting stuff together just to take it apart again."

"Don't worry, Izzy. I'm sure we'll have time to visit once we find Gatomon and defeat Daemon," Tai said.

"Those are our primary goals right now," Cody agreed.

"C'mon guys, the beach is just a little farther!" Gomamon yelled. He had run up the path ahead of us, and now disappeared around the bend again. We all quickened our pace slightly in order to catch up with him.

The beach was exactly the same as I remembered it. Near the shoreline was the pile of smashed telephone booths from when Shellmon attacked us here five years ago. Agumon had digivolved to Greymon for the first time in order to defeat him. I kept thinking back to the first time Biyomon digivolved. She had to defend a village of Yokomon from Meramon, who was affected by a black gear. It all seemed so ancient now, as we walked along the beach.

Far ahead, we could see a tiny figure standing alone on the beach. It looked like a little kid wearing black one-piece pajamas, but the fact that he was holding a fireball in his hands disabused me of that notion immediately.

"So who are you?" Tai asked as we walked up to him.

"My name is Impmon, and I'm glad you decided to show up. You certainly took your time," the digimon said. He had a somewhat squeaky voice, punctuated by an accent which implied disdain for everything that he was talking to.

"Look, you said you could free Gatomon, right?" Matt demanded.

"Of course I can, but not for free. There's a lot of risk involved in defying Daemon, and I have to receive ample compensation for my risk," the little digimon said.

"Alright, so what do you want from us?" Ken asked, staring down at the digimon.

"I want whatever you've got. Jewelry, money, gift cards, whatever you've got on you right now is fine," the little digimon said. He held out a bag that he had been carrying. "Throw everything in here."

"Are you kidding? You want to rob us?" Tai asked.

"I'm not robbing you! Daemon kidnapped your precious little kitty. I will get her back, but you have to pay for my services. Of course, I could just disappear and you'd never see your poor little Gatomon again," the digimon sneered.

"Just a second," Tai said. He signaled for everybody to gather around.

"Well, what do we do?' he asked bluntly.

"I don't have anything that valuable on me right now," Mimi said. "Quite honestly I'd be surprised if he accepted it.

"Does anyone have anything of value on them?" Matt asked. Everyone shook their heads. Ken quickly translated, and the four who spoke only English also shook their heads no.

"In that case, let's go for it and see what he does," Joe said enthusiastically. We all turned back to Impmon.

"Alright, give us the bag," Tai said. One by one, we passed the little sack around, dropping in the little cheap jewelry and small amounts of money that we happened to be carrying. All the while Impmon just sat there and watched, almost disinterested, until the bag came to the last person, Shark. Shark looked at Impmon for a brief second, threw a few coins from his pocket in, and offered the digimon the bag.

Impmon looked at him for a second, surprised, and then pointed up to his ear. "You forgetting that, kid?" the digimon asked, indicating the earring. He said it in Japanese, so Shark could only give him a quizzical look.

"He doesn't speak Japanese, only English" Will told Impmon.

"That's fine, I'll tell him in English," Impmon said. "Kid, you've still got an earring on!" the little digimon screamed at Shark angrily.

"What, this? This is just plastic. It's a gift from my little sister. She's three, and she wanted me to wear it to remember her," Shark said coolly.

"No it's not, you made that up!" Impmon accused.

"I'm pretty sure it's plastic," Shark said with a small smile.

"It's made of bone and rubies, and you had better put it in the bag!" the tiny digimon said.

"You're a silly little guy. My sister bought this at the toy store. She promised to wear the other one," Shark said, folding his arms.

"You're a liar! That earring doesn't have a match!" Impmon yelled.

"And how would you know that?" Shark questioned.

The look on Impmon's face as he realized what Shark had just done was priceless. Even though I hadn't understood the conversation, I knew by that look that Shark had done something that freaked him out. The handful of kids that could speak English were all either staring in amazement or trying desperately to keep from laughing.

Shark withdrew the bag from Impmon and stared down at the digimon in triumph. Impmon was silent, unable to think of a way out of the situation. Shark had to break the silence.

"So this is Daemon's earring, huh?" he said, tossing it up and down in his hand. "How about you get the fuck outta here before I slit your throat," he said, suddenly pulling his switchblade on the digimon, his face no longer bearing the amused smile, but instead a serious, deadly stare that sent shivers up my spine even though he wasn't looking at me.

Impmon didn't waste time responding. He turned and bolted at the sight of the knife, knowing that he couldn't get the earring now. His tiny form streaked away from us down the beach until it disappeared over the horizon. As he ran, Mimi translated the conversation for the rest of us, and we all spent a good five minutes laughing about it.

Shark started explaining how he got the earring for real, and Will happily translated for him. "I don't even have a sister," he grinned. "I found that thing in the gutter last year at Christmas. I was waling home after buyin' my mom a little Christmas present, and I saw it. I took it to a pawn shop and the dude wouldn't give me anything for it, so I kept it." He put it back in his ear. "I suppose now we gotta smash it, right?"

Tai nodded after Will had finished translating. "I think that's the next step. We'll go back to the real world first and then we'll just find some way to break it."

"A hammer would work pretty well," Matt said.

"Forget that, one of the digimon can just break it," Joe said.

"Alright we'll try that first," Tai said. Will informed Shark of the decision and he took the earring out again and set it down in the sand.

"Alright Agumon, give it your best shot," Tai said.

"Pepper Breath!" Agumon said as he sent a fireball screaming toward the earring. It kicked up a cloud of sand upon impact, scattering it away from Agumon in a shower of tiny particles. A small crater, smoothed by the slow sifting of the sand back into it, remained where the blast had struck the beach. We all looked down into the crater. The earring was still there, half buried by the sand but completely unharmed.

"That thing's tough," Joe observed.

"Maybe we just need a harder surface. The sand might have absorbed some of the impact," Izzy suggested.

With this in mind, we walked up the beach until we found a large flat rock near the tree line. The earring was placed in the center of the rock and the digimon lined up to attack it.

"Alright, everybody at once now," Tai said.

"Pepper Breath!"

"Blue Blaster!"

"Spiral Twister!"

"Boom Bubble!"

"Super Shocker!"

"Spirit Fang!"

We waited expectantly for the dust to clear, hoping that this time they had been more successful. Once again, we were disappointed.

"Jeez, is this thing invincible?" Tai complained.

"It would appear that we'll need some other method of destroying this thing," Izzy said.

"Okay, I'll hit it with a sledge hammer when we get home. Then we'll go save Gatomon, kill Daemon, and call it a day!" Matt said.

"While both of the latter will require slightly more planning than you've implied, I suppose the sledge hammer idea will suffice," Izzy said as he pulled out his laptop.

Kari sighed. I looked over toward her, and she gave me a worried smile.

"Don't worry, Kari. We'll find Gatomon soon. She's a tough kitty, I'm sure she'll be okay," I said.

"I know," Kari said. "Everything will turn out fine, as long as we stick together."


	36. Magnadaemon

Chapter 36: Magnadaemon

Matt swung the massive hammer as hard as he could, bring it down toward the pavement and earring with incredible speed, but very little accuracy. He missed the earring by almost half a foot, which sent everyone into fits of laughter as Matt's face turned bright red. He had insisted on being the one doing the swinging, since it was his hammer, but my older brother had obviously been trying to hard to show off, and succeeded only in making us laugh.

"Alright, stop already," Matt said angrily. "I missed, it happens, get over it!"

"Sorry Matt, we just . . . you . . ." Tai couldn't finish because he was still laughing too hard.

"Give it another go, Matt," Sora said, recovering from her struggle to contain her laughter.

"Yeah, maybe this time he'll crack the pavement," Gomamon said.

"I'm gonna crack your head if you don't watch it!" Matt yelled at the digimon as everyone tried to stifle their laughter.

I felt kind of sorry for Matt when he missed the second time. Nobody could keep from laughing at that, and I tried my best to be supportive, but it was hard when I couldn't seem to stop laughing myself.

"Alright, let's see one of you break this thing then!" Matt yelled, holding out the hammer as if to challenge us. He was surprised when a hand actually grabbed the hammer, and Shark stepped forward. It was another one of those times when body language told the entire story, and Matt reluctantly handed over the hammer.

Shark pulled off his sweater and picked up the hammer. I stepped back, rather surprised by Shark's appearance. His white T-shirt tightly hugged a torso that seemed to be nothing but muscle, tightly wrapped to his body, giving it a lean and powerful appearance. His arms, masked by the sweater, seemed to bulge with well-sculpted muscles. I wasn't the only one who was surprised, most of the group was staring wide-eyed, amazed at his appearance.

"If Shark isn't in a swimming pool doing laps, he's probably at his . . . friend's house," Michael paused before the word 'friend's' apparently unsure of whether or not it fit in the context, "lifting weights on a few old machines. He doesn't take very many things seriously, but he's serious about swimming."

"That is serious," Davis commented.

Shark hoisted the hammer and positioned his feet, preparing to swing. He raised the hammer up behind him and then, using the entire weight of his body and the strength of his arms and torso, swung the hammer over his head and down at the earring. The hammer connected on the dot, making a loud sound almost like a thunder clap, but when he pulled the hammer away, the earring was still intact.

"Is that thing made of steel?" Cody said, staring at it.

"It seems to be more durable than I'd initially assumed," Izzy said.

"So how are we gonna break that thing, throw it into a volcano?" Joe suggested.

"I don't know," Izzy said. "If a sledge hammer can't break it then it's got to be pretty solid. We'd almost need diamond cutters."

"Where are we supposed to get diamond cutters?" Sora asked.

"I don't know. I'm sorry guys, but we're in a pretty big pickle, and I'm out of ideas," Izzy said. Everyone sighed. Izzy bent down and picked up the earring. He stared at it for a few seconds, twirling it around. He suddenly stopped and looked at it very closely.

"What do you see, Izzy?" I asked, leaning forward.

"Prodigious. I think there's writing on here!" Izzy said. He was staring at the back of the skull. "Yeah, there is, very small writing. It would look like a scratch if I wasn't looking closely."

"Well what does it say?" Mimi asked curiously.

"It seems like some kind of encryption, or something," Izzy said as he began.

A long wooden stake,

Was driven through his heart,

But not of any tree,

Was this stake ever a part.

"What exactly is that supposed to mean?" Tai asked.

"It's got to be some kind of riddle. I bet that whatever the wooden stake is, we have to find it in order to destroy this thing," Izzy theorized.

"But how can we find it if we don't know what it is?" Davis asked.

"We'll just have to solve the riddle," Matt said.

"But how do you find a wooden stake that was never part of a tree?" Tai wondered.

"The answer to that must be in the part about the heart. Perhaps the wood is metaphorical. Think of things that can cut through a heart," Izzy suggested.

"Could it be the sword that hit Kari?" Yolei asked.

"That didn't go through her heart, thank God," Izzy said. Everyone scanned the faces of those around them, hoping that someone else would come up with an idea. Unfortunately, everyone was completely out of them.

"Well, now what?" Tai asked.

"Seeing as we don't know how to destroy this thing, the only thing to do is keep it safe until we can think of a way," Izzy said. "The next step was to find Gatomon, so I say we move on to that and hope that we can come up with the answer to the riddle later."

Shark gave Will a quizzical look as if to ask what had been said, and Will summed the conversation up quickly in English. Shark nodded and put the earring back on, and then pulled his sweater back on. He offered the handle to Matt with a sarcastic smile, and Matt rolled his eyes and took it, heading up to his apartment to put it away.

"So how do we find Gatomon?" Kari asked, turning her eyes to Izzy and directing the question to him.

"Well, Impmon caught me off guard before, but I think I'll be able to undo what he did to my tracer program. Ken, I'd really appreciate your help with this," Izzy said.

"I'd be glad to," Ken said.

"Okay, then we're heading to the computer lab again. As soon as we find anything, we'll call you guys," Izzy promised. He and Ken then separated from us, heading back to the school.

"So what are the rest of us going to do?" I asked.

"Pretty much just veg out until Izzy calls," Tai said. "What else can we do?"

"How long do you think it's going to take them?" Sora asked.

"I hope not too long, I hate waiting around not doing anything," Joe said.

"How about we go grab something to eat?" Matt said as he returned.

"Great idea, I'm starving!" Davis said.

"It is almost lunchtime. How about we walk around the city and find a restaurant?" Sora suggested.

"Sounds good to me!" Yolei replied.

The restaurant we found was close to the harbor, with large windows looking out on the open expanse of water. We could see many different ships floating lazily in and out of the port through a thin mist that was rising off of the water, left over from the early morning and able to hang around until noon because the sun had been blocked out by clouds. The restaurant had a calm, quiet feel to it, with walls painted soft blue and dim lights that didn't really make the pace any brighter at this time of day. The plants planted all around gave off a barely perceptible aroma that suggested sleep but subtly hinted that you should stay awake lest you stop smelling it.

As we waited for our food and everyone else chatted, I found myself staring up at the gray, cloudy sky again. I wanted to forget what I had seen five years ago, the entire digital world floating high above us in the sky. It was an awful memory, and I wanted to make it disappear, but I knew that it never would.

"Whatcha thinking about TK?" Patamon asked, alighting on my head.

"I was just looking at the sky," I told him, which was true enough.

"Is something bothering you, TK?"

"I'm just worried, Patamon. Everything's been kind of weird lately. I guess I should be used to this stuff by now, by I'm still worried," I said.

Patamon fluttered down onto my lap and smiled at me. I returned the smile.

"I wonder when our food will get here," I said, turning back towards the group,"

"Hey what's that?" I heard someone else in the restaurant say.

"It looks like a big pillar of smoke," someone else said. I turned to the window and looked out across the harbor. A huge pillar of smoke, or rather, steam, had appeared over the harbor. A ship was sailing just in front of it, and I could see some of the crew staring at the phenomenon.

"Where'd that come from, TK?' matt asked when he noticed it.

"I don't know, it just sorta appeared out there," I said.

Suddenly, a bolt of fire rocketed out of the pillar and struck the ship. Instantly the entire thing was ablaze. A collective gasp followed by various exclamations of surprise filled the restaurant, shattering the atmosphere of calm.

"It's him, Patamon," I said.

"Let's get him!" Patamon said.

Patamon digivolve to...:::::Angemon!

Angemon smashed through the window and rushed out toward the pillar. He swung his fist toward the pillar, releasing a bright beam of energy that cut through the steam and sent it swirling around and away, revealing the evil digimon who had hidden himself within.

"We've got to help the people on that ship!" Tai said.

"I'll take care of it," Gomamon said, leaping out of the hole in the window.

Gomamon digivolve to...:::::Ikkakumon!

"Shark, we've got to help, too!" Michael yelled to the other boy. Shark nodded as Uniquemon and Betamon also jumped through the window.

Betamon digivolve to...:::::Seadramon!

Uniquemon digivolve to...:::::Armatsumon!

Armatsumon was basically a much larger Uniquemon, a ball about fifteen feet in diameter, with a face and an enormous tentacle covered in suction cups rising from the top of its body. All three of the digimon rushed toward the ship to try and save as many people as they could.

"You ready to fight, Agumon?" Tai asked, looking at his digimon.

"Of course I am!" Agumon said.

Agumon warp digivolve to...:::::Wargreymon!

Wargreymon flew out to the middle of the harbor to join Angemon, who was facing off against Daemon in a monumental staring contest. Daemon, however, seemed quite sure of himself.

"Matt, it might be a good idea for me to digivolve also," Gobumon suggested.

"Wait for just a second, Gabumon. We've got to see what he plans to do first," Matt replied.

But Daemon didn't seem to be doing anything. It appeared that he was content to stare at the two digimon who had flown out to oppose him.

"I don't get it. What's he playing at?" Sora wondered.

"He's obviously after the earring," Michael said. He looked toward Shark grimly. Shark pulled the earring out and clenched it tightly in his left fist. With his other hand, he pulled his switchblade, as if it would do any good against a digimon as powerful as Daemon.

The evil digimon still didn't do anything. Ikkakumon, Seadramon, and Armatsumon were swimming away with the crew of the ship he had just ignited, and he couldn't have been more indifferent.

Finally, the digimon looked up at his challengers. "You are so predictable. It makes my job shockingly easy," he said emotionlessly.

"What the fuck!" Shark screamed behind us all. I spun around, understanding only that he had screamed, and saw Daemon there, both of his hands slowly prying Shark's clenched fist opened. I did a double take upon seeing the second Daemon, and then realized that the one in the harbor was a fake that he had created to distract us.

"Gabumon, help him!" Matt yelled.

Gabumon warp digivolve to...:::::Metalgarurumon!

Shark suddenly twisted and slammed his knife into Daemon's body, right where his heart should have been. For a split second, Daemon lurched backwards, but his hands continued to claw at Shark's until Shark couldn't hold onto the earring any longer. Matt and Tai both dove at it as it fell to the floor, but Daemon snatched it out of the air and swiftly floated back into the middle of the restaurant, dislodging Shark's knife in the process.

The fake in the harbor had disappeared, and now all we could do is watch as Daemon reached under his hood to put the earring on. A great fire suddenly engulfed him, and it began to grow, spreading the flames throughout the restaurant and forcing us to run as fast as we could out the nearest exit. We turned back to the building, and the flames burst through the roof, sending a shower of scalding debris up into the air and down onto our heads. We could only watch in horror as the beast took shape above us, bursting out of the restaurant as he grew larger and larger.

The flames receded slightly, revealing a demonic skull for a head, with fire flowing freely out of the eyes and nostrils, the earring dangling from where his ear should have been if he had flesh. He raised one massive skeletal arm, wreathed in flame, and smashed through a wall of the restaurant with the vicious claws on the end of it. He raised up his other skeletal arm, and this one held a golden staff with an odd black jewel gripped by some kind of claw fastened to the top of it. With a swing of this devilish staff, he brought down the remaining walls of the building in a mass of fire and dust, sending sparks flying up into the air. He stood up to his full height of almost ten stories, revealing a rib cage filled with raging red fire, and skeletal legs which were also wrapped in a burning inferno. He was a massive skeletal demon covered entirely in a hellish fire, and we could do nothing to stop his transformation.


	37. Hell on Earth

Chapter 37: Hell on Earth

My vines wrapped around Mimi and dragged her out of the collapsing building. We ran to the street with the others and turned to watch the terrible transformation. It was like all of the worst nightmares I had ever had all coming true at once.

As the building crumbled, the enormous digimon scanned the city from his new perspective. Metalgarurumon had landed on a roof and was staring at the monster, apparently trying to come up with a plan of attack. Wargreymon and Angemon flew over to the scene, stopping out over the water. They seemed unsure of how to handle the new enemy.

"This could be a bit of a problem," Matt said.

"Alright, we'll just have to do this the hard way," Tai declared. "Get him Wargreymon!"

Wargreymon flew up into the sky, and then dove at Daemon at high speed, spinning rapidly to create a tornado of energy. He sped straight for the beast from high above, but Daemon swung his staff at the tornado and struck Wargreymon in the stomach, sending him flying. The staff made a terribly loud crackle as it spilt the air, and the black orb left a trail of some kind of dark energy. Wargreymon recovered in mid air and attacked again. Metalgarurumon also took to the sky and tried to use his Metal Wolf Claw attack. Daemon turned quickly to him and released a stream of blue fire at him which devoured the attack and slammed Metalgarurumon into a building. Without ceasing his fiery breath, Daemon turned to Wargreymon. Wargreymon tried to use his shield to block the blast, but it was too much for him and he was knocked from the sky into the bay.

Daemon still did not stop his fire breathing. He focused it on several nearby buildings, which instantly erupted in flames.

"We've got to help them, Will," Michael said. Will nodded. Seadramon devolved to Betamon, but not for long.

Drakamon warp digivolve to...:::::Metalskullhydramon!

Betamon warp digivolve to...:::::Metalseadramon!

Metalseadramon launched his River of Power at Daemon, but the attack was swallowed by the constant flow of fire from the demon's mouth. Metalseadramon was hit by the full force of the blow and was pushed back into the bay. Wargreymon rose out of the water at that moment and threw the massive blast that he called Terra Force at Daemon, but again the fire consumed the attack before it even reached him.

Metalskullhydramon took a more direct approach. Charging through the burning rubble as Daemon handled Wargreymon's attack; the seven heads all camped down on Daemon's legs and arms. His tail wrapped around Daemon, securing his grip, and he used one head, the one with three horns, to attempt to skewer Daemon upon said horns. Daemon, however, proved far too strong. He wrenched his arms free of Metalskullhydramon's heads and pried the remaining heads off of himself. Then he swung the staff, striking two of the heads and slamming them down into the burning rubble on the ground. The other five rushed him, but his flaming breath pushed them backwards, turning the black metal armor bright red.

Metalgarurumon flew at Daemon from behind and launched an all-out attack at him. The icy missile struck Daemon's back, but the ice almost instantly melted away. Daemon spun around like lightning, his staff crackling through the air, and swatted Metalgarurumon out of the air. Metalseadramon rose up out of the bay and quickly launched his attack against Daemon, but the massive digimon again turned his fire upon Michael's partner and sent him streaking back across the bay in a cloud of fire and steam.

Wargreymon tried to strike Daemon with his claws, but Daemon grabbed him with his free hand and threw him to the ground. His fire breath covered Wargreymon and pinned him to the ground. Metalskullhydramon's heads all launched their Dark Dimension attacks, sending the seven pentagons straight into Daemon's body. The demon ignored the attacks completely, focusing on scorching Wargreymon. Metalseadramon launched another River of Power which also connected with its target, but again Daemon ignored the attack as if it were little more than a child's squirt gun.

"He just too strong, our attacks aren't even fazing him!" Tai cried.

"There's got to be something else we can do," Joe said. "Ikkakumon, we've got to help!"

Ikkakumon digivolve to...:::::Zudomon!

"Palmon, you help them too," Mimi said. I nodded and focused on the power that was streaming through me.

Palmon digivolve to...:::::Togemon!

Togemon digivolve to...:::::Lilymon!

"Vulcan's Hammer!" Zudomon yelled as he threw his enormous weapon at the demon digimon. The hammer struck Daemon right on the forehead and ricocheted up into the air. Once again, Daemon simply ignored the attack.

I tried my Flower Cannon attack, but it was no more effective. Metalgarurumon, Metalskullhydramon, and Metalseadramon all attacked at once, but Daemon still did not even notice the other digimon. Through the flames, I could see that Wargreymon wasn't going to be able to last much longer.

"Keep trying!" TK suddenly called out. "You can't give up now! Whatever it takes, don't stop fighting!"

Angemon digivolve to...:::::Magnaangemon!

Drawing his sword, Magnaangemon rushed into the flaming inferno. Fighting through he fames, he grabbed Wargreymon and pulled him away from Daemon. He flew away quickly, out of the fire. Daemon tried to follow him, but he flew out over the bay and Daemon couldn't connect with his continuous fire breath, and he couldn't walk out into the bay.

Daemon's proximity to the water gave Sora an idea. "Perhaps if we knock him into the water, it might weaken him," she suggested. Michael, Will, Matt, and Joe all nodded.

All at once, the four digimon rushed Daemon. Metalskullhydramon slammed into him hard, again trying to coil himself around the demon and immobilize him. Metalseadramon and Zudomon both tried to tackle Daemon back into the water, and managed to push him back right to the edge of it. Metalgarurumon dove in from high in the sky, building up speed and slamming into the demon's body. As a mass, all of the digimon went crashing backwards into the water, skidding down into the depths and disappearing beneath an enormous cloud of steam and thrashing water.

For a second, only the enormous cloud of steam continued to rise up from the bay. We all held our breath, hoping desperately that the fight was over. Then something finally broke the surface with an enormous splash. It was Zudomon.

Metalgarurumon and the two dragons surfaced seconds later, still shrouded in the cloud of steam. They all slowly climbed onto the shore, and for a brief moment in time, we actually thought we had won. The increasing steam indicated otherwise, but we ignored it at first.

Suddenly, we felt the ground shake, as if there was going to be an earthquake. Then, the water turned bright red and began to boil, and then the entire bay seemed to explode. The water leapt out as if the bay was a tiny puddle that a child had just stomped in. The scalding hot water was mixed with a terrible red and blue fire that seemed to expand as a bubble out from the bottom of the bay. The other digimon quickly moved in front us, screening us from the terrible blast as the city block around us went tumbling down in a mass of fire and smoke. When it finally cleared, we could only stare in awe down into the bay. There was no water left in it. There was only Daemon, surrounded in a massive bubble of fire which was keeping the water from the ocean from the river from flowing in.

"Can anything stop this guy?" Davis questioned, hardly able to believe that the digimon was still alive.

Daemon began to climb out of the bay, and the bubble of fire moved with him, rising up toward us out of the gaping pit that had once been filled with water.

"Guys, I think we should move before he gets any closer," Joe suggested. Everyone agreed immediately, and turned away, sprinting as quickly as possible away from the oncoming flames.

The other digimon and I turned to face Daemon, now only hoping to buy time for everyone else to escape. We all tried to attack him, but the bubble of fire blocked all of our attacks, and Daemon just kept coming. He reached the edge of the crater and began to step through the rubble. Our attacks could do nothing to prevent him, so we instead turned toward everyone else and began trying to scoop them up in order to get them away faster. Behind us, water began to rush back into the bay as the bubble ceased to block its flow.

As we escaped the rubble and fled into the part of the city that was still undamaged, Kari stopped running.

"Kari c'mon, we've got to hurry!" Tai yelled at her.

"Tai, if we kept going, Daemon wild burn down the entire city. We can't just lead him through town. So many people would get hurt," Kari explained.

Tai gasped, realizing that Kari was right. "But how can we stop him?" Tai asked. But nobody had a chance to respond, because Kari suddenly began to glow with a bright white light. From high above us, on the roof of a skyscraper, another light was beginning to shine along with Kari's.

Gatomon digivolve to...:::::Angewomon!

"It's Gatomon!" Kari called out happily.

"But how'd she escape?" Cody wondered.

"More importantly, can she stop Daemon?" Ken said.

But Daemon had now stopped on his own accord, and was staring a t Angewomon with fire burning in his eyes. Slowly he raised his staff, and the black rob began to glow in a threatening, foul light that seemed to cause the day to turn instantly into night. Angewomon was undeterred.

"Celestial Arrow!" she said as the holy arrow appeared on her hand. She pulled it back in the magical bow that sprung from her wrist, and then loosed the arrow straight at Daemon.

The bolt sliced through the fiery shroud with ease, streaking forward towards Daemon's head. It missed a direct hit, but instead struck the earring which dangled form the demon's skull. The arrow passed through effortlessly, and then disintegrated on the other side, but the damage was done. A dark red light surrounded the earring, and all of the fire around the city seemed to gather itself into it. Daemon cried out as if in agony as the earring exploded in a flash of fire and light into thousands of tiny pieces.

The terrible fire once again surrounded Daemon, and the digimon screamed in agony as it wrapped around him. The fire surrounded him completely, and then grew smaller and smaller until at last it dissipated, revealing Daemon's original form, clenching his fists in anger.

"What have you done?" he demanded, staring at Angewomon. "You cannot have, there's no way, NO!" he screeched in a blind rage. "You will all die for this outrage! I will see to that personally!" And he suddenly vanished, disappearing back into the digital world.

Angewomon reverted back to Gatomon as she landed gracefully in front of us. The other digimon and I then returned to our rookie stages. Kari ran forward and scooped Gatomon up in a big hug.

"Gatomon, you're the best," she said as she held the digital cat close.

"I missed you so much, Kari," Gatomon said, happily returning the hug.

"But how did you escape?" Tai asked as we all gathered around. Kari released Gatomon, who smiled up at Tai.

"Let' just say, I had a little unexpected help . . ."


	38. The Enemy of My Enemy

Chapter 38: The Enemy of my Enemy

The room was unusually cold, even for Myotismon's old castle. Perhaps it was just because I felt so helpless, sitting in that room for hours and hours, doing nothing but throwing little rocks at the wall o out the bared window. I had tried to break the thing almost a hundred times already, but it seemed indestructible. Even if I could have broken through the bars, I knew that I couldn't have escaped. The tower was perched several hundred feet above an outcropping of sharp rocks that even I couldn't have landed on and lived. The endless hours spent staring blankly into space were terrible, but they weren't as bad as the knowledge that Kari might be in danger, and that I wasn't there to help her.

I climbed up to the window again and stared out at the vastness of the digital world. Far away in the distance, I could see a Kuwagamon flying away, probably chasing something down on the ground. The sun was shining brightly on the wide open landscape, making the small lakes scattered throughout the surrounding forest seem to shimmer like immense piles of diamond. The sun seemed to fill the entire world, with the exception of my little freezing cold room. Only a few streaks of sunlight splashed in through the window, and sitting beneath them was my only source of heat. Of course, they would be gone in a few hours, and then I would be left to freeze in this tiny little cell.

As far as I knew, I was only being kept alive so that Daemon or one of his minions could trick the digidestined into giving up Shark's earring, which was apparently the one that Daemon was looking for. I wished that I could somehow get the message to them, but there was no chance of that.

Sitting in the waning sunlight, I tried to think of a good plan. The door was made of wood, but it was thick, solid wood and there were guards posted right outside of it. If I tried to break out, they would know long before I could produce a hole large enough to escape through, and I would be caught for sure. Other than that, the only available route was the window, which I had already failed to smash open.

I considered trying to trick the guard somehow, but I knew that it wouldn't work. Daemon had promised that if they opened the door for any reason at all he would kill them personally, so it was rather unlikely that anything I said would convince them to disobey his orders.

Still sitting in the sun and soaking up whatever heat I could from it, I began to doze off. I drifted in and out of sleep for a long time, half conscious of the sun moving steadily farther past the window until it ceased the spray into the room at all. This didn't bother me as much as I thought it would have, mostly because of my half-asleep state. I was about to fall into a much deeper sleep when my sensitive ears picked up flapping outside the window.

"Gatomon," someone whispered outside the window. "Are you in here? Say something if you're in here."

"Who's there?" I said groggily, stretching my claws. I didn't really expect any help, and so I figured it was just someone old friend who had heard of my plight and wanted to find me. As I looked up to the window, however, I found not an old friend, but quite the opposite.

"What are you doing here?" I demanded, instantly awake and angry at being disturbed, even more so because the digimon was Demidevimon.

"I'm trying to get you out of here," he said, gripping one of the bars with one talon and stretching a vial of liquid through the window with the other.

"I'm sure you are," I said sarcastically. "How about you get out of here before I slice you to ribbons," I said, brandishing my claws.

"You're not in a position to slice anyone to ribbons. I'm trying to help you and your dead beat friends, but if you don't want my help, they screw it, I don't care if they all die," he said, releasing the bar and fluttering away from the window.

"Wait," I said, "What's in that vial?"

"It's acid. I was going to give it to you to melt through those bars, but if you can't accept my help then so be it," he said, turning around and hovering with his back to me.

"And how exactly am I supposed to escape once I'm trough the bars. I can't fly," I reminded him.

"Oh, so the mighty Gatomon is afraid of a little fall," Demidevimon sneered. "Don't cats always land on their feet?"

"You're proving less and less helpful by the second," I growled at him.

"Well, I guess you could beg me to fly you down to the ground," Demidevimon laughed again. "But only if you ask really nicely," he mocked.

"And maybe if I use my Cat's Eye Hypnosis you'll fall asleep in mid air and crash onto those rocks yourself," I replied angrily.

"That won't save you little friends, now will it? I bet by now Daemon has the earring. He's probably roasting all their little . . ."

"Stop it!" I screamed at him. As much as I hated him, he was the only chance that I would have to escape, and save Kari. Swallowing my pride, I jumped up to the window.

"Fine, give me the acid," I demanded. He passed the vial through the bars to me, and I opened it. It smelled disgusting, but I grit my teeth and spilled a little bit onto one of the bars, near the bottom. The acid ate right through, creating a small gap in the metal. I spilled a little on the top of the same bar, and in less than a second, the bar fell down, out the window and all the way to the sharp rocks below, where it bounce around with several loud clangs before settling somewhere among the crags. I repeated the process with a second bar, right next to the first, and this time I held the middle of the bar so that I could set it down quietly back in the room. I now had a big enough hole to squeeze through, and I climbed out onto the sill of the window.

"Alright, let's go," I said, taking a deep breath.

"I haven't heard you beg me to carry you yet," Demidevimon mocked me again.

"Just shut up and take me down there already!" I yelled at him. He silently turned his nose up at me.

I sighed heavily, staring at the little digimon with absolute hatred.

"Fine. Demidevimon, will you please fly me down to the ground?" I said, angrily.

"I don't know, that was pretty weak," he laughed at me again.

"What do you want, a poem?" I yelled at him.

"How about you admit that I'm saving all your little friends and so you owe me big time when this is over," he laughed.

"Alright, I'll be in your debt if you'll fly me down there so that I can save my friends,' I said, practically shaking with anger and humiliation. There was nothing else I could do. He was the only escape route that I had.

"Fine, but as soon as Daemon's dead, you're gonna pay me back. You'll follow my every order for a week, no matter what it is!" he laughed hysterically

I almost leapt at him in my anger, but I managed to calm myself down. "I won't do anything to hurt my friends," I told him.

"Fine by me, I just want to humiliate you for a week," he grinned.

"Does today count?"

"No."

"Okay, it's a deal, now get me down from here," I said, still barely able to control myself.

"You got it, kitty cat!' he cried with glee as he swooped down to the window. His talons gripped my shoulders and he took off.

We soared high over the sharp crags far below the tower, and slowly descended as we passed out over the forest. We began to streak across the tops of the trees at high speed.

"Aren't you going to put me down now?" I questioned him as we flew along.

"I'm taking you right to an open gate. Daemon is already in the human world, and he's got his earring," Demidevimon told me.

"And you wasted all that time arguing with me!" I yelled at him, now completely losing my cool and trying to swat at him with my claws.

"Whoa, slow down, Gatomon! You wasted the time arguing, not me. Do you want to get to that gate or not?" he asked. Once again, I was forced to quietly accept the free trip he was giving me across the forest.

"Alright, there's the gate," he told me as we approached a large lake. In the middle of the lake was a large swirling portal which pulsed with an odd yet familiar energy.

"I just have one more question,' I said as we dove toward the portal. "Why are you helping us so much?"

"Well, you know the old saying, the enemy of my enemy is my, well, you get the idea," he said as he dropped me into the portal.

I spiraled through the link between the two worlds, now praying that I wasn't too late. Somehow, I sensed that I had to be the one to stop Daemon, and as soon as I got there, I had to find Kari. I didn't have to search very long. I appeared on top of a skyscraper, staring at a massive monster behind a wall of fire which could only be Daemon. I stared at him for a few seconds, in awe of how powerful he seemed to be, and unsure of what I could do to stop him. Then I felt Kari's light flowing through me, and all my doubts were instantly erased. I had to stop him, for Kari and for everyone.


	39. The Digital Barrier

Chapter 39: The Digital Barrier

Needless to say, Izzy was surprised by the email that he received from Kari. It said that they had just found Gatomon and chased Daemon back to the digital world after destroying his earring. It sounded almost too good to be true, but when we all met together at Izzy's house, Gatomon was there, and everyone was in a great mood.

"How much damage was done to the city, though?" Ken questioned.

"Quite a bit. Most of the area around the bay was completely destroyed," Matt said. "We did everything we could to minimize the damage, but Daemon was way too powerful."

"I still don't understand why Angewomon was able to break the earring." Kari said.

"The inscription makes sense if you just think about for a second," Izzy said. "The first part was about a wooden stake going through a heart. If you recall some mythological lore, one way to kill a vampire is to drive a wooden stake through their heart. We could interpret this as meaning a stake that pierced Myotismon's heart five years ago, except that that stake was made of light and not wood, hence it fills the requirements of the second part of the inscription."

"I guess that works, sort of," Davis said, apparently still confused.

"We've got something more important to think about right now, we've got an opportunity to beat Daemon once and for all," Izzy said. "I think we should focus on that right now."

"It sounds like you've got a plan, Izzy," Sora said.

"I do, and I believe that it will work perfectly this time," Izzy said.

"Alright, let's hear it," Tai said.

"Well, the biggest problem that we have is Daemon's ability to teleport between the two worlds," Izzy began. "But I think I can prevent him from doing this. Five years ago, when Myotismon was taking over the city, Gennai sent me a digital barrier program. The program made and life forms within its range invisible to digimon."

"So we're going to fight him while being invisible?" Joe asked.

"No, I don't think that would work. The digital barrier is only highly effective if the things that are hiding remain mostly motionless. However, I may be able to modify the program and turn it into an actual barrier to digital data. I'll set it up in a wide sphere around Daemon and he won't be able to teleport while in the sphere. Unfortunately, if he leaves the sphere he will be able to, so we have to keep the sphere a secret from him so that he doesn't know how to escape," Izzy told everyone.

"Alright, so now what about the hard part?" Cody asked. "Actually defeating him."

"Well, I figured that Michael's done it before, so I was hoping that he'd have some bright ideas,' Izzy said, turning to Michael.

Michael nodded. "When we killed Daemon before, it was actually Metalskullhydramon that managed to finish him off. He used a powerful attack called Abomination, which set off a massive explosion of energy right on Daemon, immediately deleting him."

"Great, then we'll use the same plan," TK said.

"It's not that simple, I'm afraid. For one thing, Daemon is now wise to that idea, so he'll be looking for it and will most likely attempt to evade it," Michael explained. "Furthermore, the attack drains all of Metalskullhydramon's energy, reducing him to Dremon immediately afterward."

"So we only get one shot at this, and if we miss, then we have to fight him for real," Matt said.

"That would be difficult," Michael began. "Daemon is still extremely strong. He was beating both Metalseadramon and Metalskullhydramon until the latter used his Abomination attack. If Metalskullhydramon misses, we'll be down to four mega-level digimon. While that may seem an advantage, we're still not sure just how powerful Daemon really is, even in his normal form."

"That's a good point, but we may not get another chance to destroy him so easily. Right now he's fuming from losing his earring and weakened by the battle, plus he doesn't have the army he stole from Myotismon organized to defend himself. We've got to strike now." Tai said.

"Alright, then we'll just have to be careful. We'll have the other four mega level digimon engage him and try to get him distracted, and Metalskullhydramon will take the first clear shot he gets when he sees that Daemon isn't watching him," Izzy said. "In the event that this plan fails, we simply fight him as best we can."

"Sounds like a plan, Izzy," Sora said.

"Okay, I'll need a little while to work on the digital barrier program. Once it's completed, I'll call everyone together. Be ready to leave at any time, we're not going to wait once this thing is ready," Izzy said.

"Izzy, just how long will it take you to fix the digital barrier?" Yolei asked.

"It could take all night, so I'd advise everyone go home and get some sleep. The digimon are probably tired from their battle today anyways, so leaving tonight would be foolish," Izzy said.

Everyone began to slowly file out of the room, bidding each other good night and Izzy good luck with his programming. Ken offered to stay and help, but Izzy said that he needed to get home so that Wormmon could rest.

"Izzy, don't you need your rest too?" I asked him once everyone had left.

"Don't worry about me, Tentomon. I'm good at operating on little sleep. You should probably get some, though," he replied.

"It's not like I'm going to be able to fight effectively tomorrow, Izzy. I'll stay up and help you."

"No, we may need you in the fight. Even if you can't directly hurt Daemon, there may be other ways that you can help everyone. Joe said that Zudomon helped to tackle Daemon into the bay yesterday," Izzy told me.

"Yes, but that blew up in their faces, now didn't it?" I said.

"That's not really the point, Tentomon. Under the right circumstances, any of our digimon may be able to help defeat Daemon, you included. I'm not saying that you'll be doing most of the fighting, but you need to make sure you're at full strength, just in case," Izzy told me.

"If you say so, Izzy," I said. I curled up on the little bed that Izzy had made me and tried to fall asleep. The incessant drone of Izzy's typing kept me awake for a few minutes, but my mind eventually tuned it out, and dozed off.

"Tentomon, wake up," Izzy said as he shook me awake. I slowly opened my eyes and rose out of the bed, stretching and yawning.

"How'd the digital barrier go?" I asked as my vision cleared.

"It's all set to go. Now we just need to call everyone together and we can start it up," Izzy said.

"Shouldn't we have breakfast first, Izzy?" I moaned, feeling my empty stomach complaining.

"I'm way ahead of you, buddy," Izzy said, opening the door. "My mom already cooked some for us. I ate already, but there's plenty left. Dig in while I start making phone calls," he said.

I quickly complied, saying a quick thank you to Izzy's mom before I started eating. Izzy was on the phone the entire time, waking everyone else up and telling them to make sure the digimon get plenty to eat. We all remembered how hard it was to fight on an empty stomach.

"You sure you don't want some more, Tentomon?" Izzy's mom asked me as I hovered down from the chair.

"Thank you, but I couldn't possible eat another bite," I said. Just then, the doorbell rang.

"That must be someone starting to arrive," Izzy said. He opened the door to let Tai, Kari, Agumon, and Gatomon in.

"So, when do we leave?" Tai asked.

"As soon as everybody gets here," Izzy replied happily. He didn't seem tired at all.

"Good, I can't wait to get this fight over with," Kari said.

The room slowly filled with people until everyone was accounted for. Tai ran through a quick role call to make sure nobody was missing, and then Izzy took the floor.

"Alright, I've targeted the digital gate to bring us right to Myotismon's castle, where I believe Daemon is. The digital barrier is fully functional, and should work as I planned, but it will only last for three hours after activation, so we need to finish the fight as quickly as possible. Everyone understands the plan?"

There was a general chorus of assent from the entire group.

"Alright, let's get going then!" Izzy said. This time Kari stepped forward with her D-3 and opened the gate up. One by one we all passed through it, and we found ourselves in a forest, just outside of Myotismon's old castle, which Daemon now occupied.

I turned to look up at the castle, as did everyone else, and there, standing upon the roof and staring right at us, though it was hard to tell if he actually could see us or not, was Daemon.

"Alright, here we go," Matt said as the clearing exploded with the light of digivolution.

Agumon warp digivolve to…..:::::Wargreymon!

Drakamon warp digivolve to…..:::::Metalskullhydramon!

Gobumon warp digivolve to…..:::::Metalgarurumon!

Betamon warp digivolve to…..:::::Metalseadramon!

Veemon, Wormmon, DNA warp digivolve to…..:::::Imperialdramon!

_Author's Note: I know I made up that DNA warp digivolve thing. I didn't feel like wasting space writing out all of the digivolutions required to get to Imperialdramon._


	40. The Mighty

Chapter 40: The Mighty

I watched as Imperialdramon flew up into the air with the others. The rest of us slowly walked out of the forest to get a better view of what was happening.

"Do you think they'll be able to win?" Ken asked me.

"Of course they can. Veemon and I agreed last night that we wouldn't let anything stop us. Daemon is going down, right here, right now," I declared confidently.

High above, the five mega level digimon surrounded Daemon, who calmly allowed them to do so. He seemed content to believe that they didn't have a chance against him, even though Metalskullhydramon had killed him years ago.

"It's so nice to see you all again," Daemon said, seeming completely in control. "However, you've once again forgotten one rather important detail; I can travel freely between the worlds!"

"So it's your ignorance that gives you so much confidence," Tai yelled up at him.

"Davis has some experience with that," Yolei said.

"Yeah, I . . . hey wait a second," I started to protest. I sighed and let it slide for now. The battle was beginning.

"What have you done?" Daemon questioned angrily. "What is the meaning of this?"

"We've found a way to block your escape route, Daemon," Wargreymon explained. "Now, you have to fight us."

"We won't let you escape this time," Imperialdramon told him.

"You're smarter than I gave you credit for, but still, you're attacks are no match for me. Take your best shot!" Daemon cried as flames erupted from both of his hands. He launched his first blast at Metalgarurumon, who quickly flew out of the way. Metalskullhydramon backed off to wait for his opening, while the other three digimon attacked. Wargreymon led the attack, throwing his Terra Force attack at Daemon. Daemon threw up a shield of fire to block the blast, and succeeded, but Metalseadramon and Imperialdramon moved in behind him. The combined strength of their River of Power and Imperial Cannon attacks knocked Daemon backwards through the air, right towards Wargreymon. Wargreymon attempted to bicycle kick Daemon down to the ground, but Daemon recovered quickly and blasted his Flaming Inferno at Wargreymon. Metalgarurumon then rushed him from the side, slamming into him hard and knocking him away from Wargreymon. Daemon quickly summoned the fire to himself and surrounded Metalgarurumon I it, but Wargreymon now had the opportunity he needed to send another Terra Force flying at Daemon. He scored a direct hit and Daemon crashed into the ground in front of us, sending up a cloud of dirt.

Daemon was instantly on his feet again and flew up to face the digimon. Imperialdramon attacked from directly above the demon, but Daemon's Inferno attack overpowered Imperialdramon's cannon and blasted the digimon high into the sky. Metalseadramon tried to attack form the left, but Daemon moved swiftly out of the way of his attack and let loose another blast of fire at him, which pushed him down all the way back to the ground. Wargreymon and Metalgarurumon both attack from behind then, and Daemon threw up a shield of fire to block their attack.

Imperialdramon recovered and tried another Imperial Cannon attack, but Daemon managed to hold up his shield while blasting more fire at Imperialdramon, who tried his best to block the blast, but couldn't.

"Uh oh, they're losing," TK said.

"Sora, is it time we did something to help?" Biyomon asked her partner.

"I think so, Biyo. Let's go!" Sora replied.

"I'm going to! I hit him once, and I can again!" Tentomon cried.

Biyomon digivolve to…..:::::Birdramon!

Birdramon digivolve to…..:::::Garudamon!

Tentomon digivolve to…..:::::Kabuterimon!

Kabuterimon digivolve to…..:::::Megakabuterimon!

The two ultimate level digimon rushed to join the battle. Garudamon launched her Wing Blade attack, which Daemon never saw until it struck him in the back. He turned to see what had hit him just as Kabuterimon reached him with his Horn Buster attack, and the giant horn hit Daemon squarely in the face. He was knocked up into the air for a second and lost his bearing. In a rage, he sent a torrent of fire down upon Megakabuterimon and Garudamon. Both digimon couldn't take the attack, and they fell back down to the ground and reverted back to Biyomon and Tentomon. Just as they hit the ground, Metalgarurumon, Metalseadramon, and Wargreymon all connected with their attacks against the distracted Daemon. Imperialdramon then rushed in and tackled Daemon down out of the air, slamming him into the roof of Myotismon's castle.

The roof suddenly erupted with fire, and Imperialdramon was sent flying backward up into the sky. Wargreymon caught him as Daemon rose once again into the sky, surrounded by an enormous cloud of fire. He motioned toward the digimon, and the entire cloud suddenly flared up and flew at them. They all tried to block it, but the fire was far too intense for them to handle. They quickly split up so that Daemon couldn't continue to focus his attacks on all of them.

Daemon ceased his attack on the digimon for a second and instead blasted a column of fire at the castle. This seemed to be a rather foolish strategy, lighting his own castle on fire, but the streak of flames smashed through the castle as he dragged it along just inside of the wall nearest us. The wall began to fall in one piece, right at us.

"You coward!" Wargreymon screamed as he tried to rush down to stop the wall from falling on us. He wasn't going to make it in time, though because he was too far away. We were in serious trouble.

Gomamon digivolve to...:::::Ikkakumon!

Ikkakumon digivolve to...:::::Zudomon!

Zudomon rushed a the wall, dropping his hammer immediately, and caught the mass of falling stone just before it smashed down onto us.

"Nice save Zudomon!" Joe called out.

"The wall's collapsing!" Izzy observed with distress. Indeed, the wall was beginning to break apart. The rocks were going to crush us.

"Armadillomon, quick, we need a tunnel!" Cody told his digimon.

Armadillomon, armor digivolve to...:::::Digmon!

Digmon put his drills to the ground immediately and began to create a large tunnel. He turned a short way down to create a small room that would be sheltered from the falling rocks, and we all rushed inside as the rocks began falling all around us.

The rocks blocked the entrance, but that wasn't a problem for Digmon. He drilled up through the ground and the rubble of the wall, creating an easy escape route for us. Back on the surface, Zudomon was just tossing back the piece of wall that was left in front of him, which he had been holding up. He was clearly tired out from having to hold up the entire wall, even for a short time, and he reverted back to Gomamon.

"Good job, Gomamon. Take a rest," Joe said.

"Hey, I just got a great idea from that wall," Mimi said. "Cody, do you mind if Palmon and I borrow Digmon?"

"Huh? What for?" Cody asked.

"You'll see," Mimi promised. She whispered something to Palmon, who smiled.

"Alright, Mimi, I'll give it a shot," she said. She shot her vines up to the roof and then dragged herself up by them. Once there, shot her vines back down at Digmon. They wrapped around him tightly, but didn't hurt him because he was at the champion level.

"Now Digmon," Mimi started, "when you hit Daemon, hit him hard with your drills. This catapult will give you extra speed, and we might be able to hurt him!"

"I'm all over it!" Digmon declared happily. Palmon retracted her vines as quickly as possible, dragging Digmon up into the air faster and faster, until she released him and he sped toward Daemon, brandishing the drills on his nose and arms.

He ran right into Daemon, the drills all connecting solidly, and the two digimon shot upward in a tangle mess. A blast of fire sent Digmon streaking away back down toward the ground.

"Mimi, I can't catch him, he's moving to fast!" Palmon yelled down to us.

"Allow me to, then!" Hawkmon said, taking to the sky.

Hawkmon digivolve to...:::::Aquilamon!

Aquilamon easily caught Digmon in his claws and drifted slowly down to the ground. As soon as they landed, Digmon returned to his rookie stage. The fire blast had been too much for him. Palmon dropped down from the roof with her vines to rejoin the group.

"I think we've got him!" Ken said. All four of the digimon had managed to hit Daemon at once while he was distracted by Digmon, slamming him down onto the roof of the castle. From behind the castle, Metalskullhydramon rose up into the air. There was a bright black energy that seemed to be flowing from all of his jaws, dripping out the tiny openings in the skull as he held in the blast. With Daemon down on the roof, he took his shot.

"Abomination!" The massive dragon roared. All of the heads unleashed massive streams of black energy. The energy gathered in a giant orb just above Daemon, and then fell right down onto Daemon.

The sky went black suddenly as a massive explosion of dark energy rocked the very earth. We all fell down as the ground shook violently. The confusion of the earthquake and the black sky made me dizzy for a few seconds.

I slowly regained my senses, and stared up at the bright blue sky. I quickly got to my feet, looking around to see what had happened. Everyone else was also standing up and dusting themselves off. Slowly, I turned toward the castle.

The enormous structure was no longer there. Only a smoldering pile of rubble remained where it had once stood. On top of the pile, Dremon was looking at us, smiling with his tiny mouth. He started to slither over to us as the other digimon landed around us.

"I think I got him, Will," the little digimon reported happily.

"I think you did. Great work," Will said, picking up his digimon and holding him up in the air. "You got him good!"

"So, is that it? Is it really over?" Sora asked, anticipating an affirmative answer.

The answer she got was not from who she expected, nor was it affirmative.

"It's . . . not over yet," a voice sounded from the rubble. Fire began to stream out through holes in the pile of stone, and then the center of the mound exploded in fire, sending the pieces of the bricks hurtling through the air. The four remaining mega digimon stepped in front of us and blocked the rocks, but they couldn't stop Daemon from rising up out of the rubble in his familiar shroud of fire.

"You missed," he said with an incredible derision. "Now, you will all fell the fury of my fire!" He rose up above us and unleashed a stream of fire straight for us. Imperialdramon stepped in front of it and put up an energy shield, but the shield was not strong enough, and it was gradually being pushed backward.

"How can we beat him?" Izzy questioned. "If he can survive an attack like that, even an indirect hit, can our attack even hurt him?"

"Don't worry Izzy. We've got one more trick up our sleeves," Tai said. He turned to Matt. "You ready?"

"Absolutely," Matt said. He and Tai both began to glow and their digivices exploded with a brilliant light.

Wargreymon, Metalgarurumon, DNA digivolve to...:::::,',',',','Omnimon!

"Wow, Omnimon's back, TK said in awe.

"Tai and I talked about this last night. We figured if plan A didn't work, we should have a plan B," Matt said.

Omnimon stepped in front of Imperialdramon, blocking the blazing flame.

"What is the meaning of this?" Daemon screeched.

"You're done for," Omnimon said. He raised his right arm, pointing it at Daemon.

"Garuru Cannon!" Omni bellowed as he let a blast fly from the head-like cannon on his arm. The beam cut straight through Daemon's fiery inferno and struck the demonic digimon squarely in the chest. Daemon was knocked backward, smashing into the rubble. He tried to stand back up, but Omnimon was already on top of him again, now brandishing the sword in his left arm.

"Transcendent Sword!" Omnimon cried as he thrust the blade at Daemon. The sword smashed right through Daemon's body, right in the middle of his chest, where his heart may or may not have been. Daemon cried out in agony.

His screech seemed to shake the very ground, and we all had to cover our ears. But none of us shut our eyes; we were too excited to see Daemon's form slowly beginning to dissolve into data. Right around the sword, Daemon vanished into tiny particles which scattered themselves into the sky. There was no coming back from that for him.

Omnimon reverted all the way back to Koromon and Tsunomon. The two little digimon turned back to us and bounced over to their partners, who scooped them up happily.

"Great work Koromon, you did it!" Tai celebrated.

"You were great Tsunomon. Nice work!" Matt grinned at his digimon.

"So it's really over this time? We've finally taken out Daemon?" Yolei asked, hardly able to believe it.

"Yeah. He won't be bothering us ever again," I said confidently.

Imperialdramon and Metalseadramon digivolved back to Veemon, Wormmon, and Betamon. Veemon ran over me.

"How'd I do, Davish?" he asked with a big grin.

"You were awesome, Veemon!" I said, wrapping him up in a big hug.

"Aw, thanks, Davish," he said happily.

"You know what that means," Gomamon said. "Joe's buying lunch!"

"What? When did I say that?" Joe protested.

"Gee, thanks, Joe. You're a great guy," Sora laughed.

"Yeah, you always come through for us, Joe!" Tai said, also breaking into a laugh.

"Oh, screw it," Joe sighed.

"That's my Joe!" Gomamon declared with glee.


	41. Darkness and Light

Chapter 41: Darkness and Light

We all returned to the real world, and we spent the day running around the city, basically doing nothing. We had lunch at a small shop near Yolei's family's store, and then went to the park to fool around for a few hours. At last we ended up in my apartment, where we all just sat and laughed about everything that had happened. Koromon, Tsunomon, Dremon, Betamon, and Wormmon all fell asleep pretty quickly in Tai's bed. Veemon seemed to have an infinite store of energy, and he wouldn't stop talking all night about how intense the battle had been. TK, Matt, Davis, and Sora were sitting in chairs we had brought into the room from the kitchen. Cody, Yolei, Tai, Ken, and Izzy were all sitting on the bed, and they were bouncing around so much that I was afraid they would wake the sleeping digimon. Will, Mimi, Joe, and I were standing or leaning on the walls around the room. The digimon were either perched on something or rolling around on the floor, or sleeping, of course. I was right next to Will. Michael, Shark, Jesse, Ricky, and Laura were all leaning on the furniture along the remaining wall. Michael occasionally translated stuff for them, but for the most part they conversed with each other. Sometimes if there was a funny joke it would be translated for everybody.

"When do you think our next big adventure will be?" TK asked after a little while.

"Who knows? It doesn't really matter though. We're all way to strong to lose to anything now!" Tai said happily.

"Don't get too cocky, Tai. When something does come up, we don't want to underestimate it," Sora reminded him.

"I'd be just as happy if nothing ever happened again," Mimi said. "Of course, that's an awful lot to hope for."

"Well, whatever happens, we'll face it together," Yolei declared.

"And Joe can be the leader!" Gomamon said with a good-humored grin. Everyone laughed, even Joe.

"Alright, but then somebody else has to carry the supply bag," Joe said. We all smiled again.

"Hey, how about we hear a little music?" Matt suggested.

"Are you offering to play?" Sora asked.

"No, my voice is a little hoarse. I was thinking Will could play something," Matt said.

"But I don't have my guitar, and I don't know any lyrics in Japanese anyways," Will said.

"I brought mine. I grabbed it earlier when we passed my apartment," Matt said, lifting up his guitar. "And don't worry about the lyrics. Just try to translate as you go, and we'll all have a good laugh," he smiled.

"Alright, I'll give it a shot," Will said, accepting the guitar. He played a few notes to make sure the tuning was right, and then broke into a song.

_Bear paws and rascal power, Watching us in your garage  
Big girl you ate the neighbor, The nova is over  
Wake up and play, Balleradio   
Make room for Clara's bare feet  
The love of a Martian_

Tick tock and waiting for the meteor  
This clock is opening another door

Lots of love just keep it comin', Making something out of nothin'  
These are the best that I . . .  
I don't know how to say, Losin' what I love today  
These are the best that I . . .  
Lots of love just keep it comin', Making something out of nothin'  
These are the best that I . . .  
I don't know what to say, Look at what I lost today  
And these are the things that I . . .

Blood flowers in the kitchen, Signing off and winding down   
This Martian ends her mission ,The nova is over  
She caught the ball, By the mission bell  
Chase lizards bark at donkeys  
The love of a Martian

Let's bow our heads  
And let the trumpets blow  
Our girl is gone  
God bless her little soul 

She's got a sword in case / Though this is not her lord in case  
The one who can't afford to face her image is restored to grace.  
Disappeared/ No trace. / Musky tears. / Suitcase.  
The down turn brave little burncub  
Bear careless turnip snare rampages / Pitch color pages...  
Down and out but not in Vegas/ Disembarks and disengages.  
No loft.  
Sweet pink canary cages plummet  
Pop dewskin fortitude for the sniffing black noses  
That snort and allude to the dangling trinkets  
That mimic the dirt cough go drink its.  
It's for you.  
Blue battered naval town slip kisses  
Delivered by duck muscles and bottlenosed grifters   
Arrive in time to catch the late show.  
It's a beehive barrel race.  
A shehive stare and chase wasted feature  
Who tried and failed to reach her.  
Embossed beneath a box in the closet / That's lost.  
The kind that you find when you mind your own business.  
Shiv sister to the quickness before it blisters / Into newmorning milk blanket.  
Your ilk is funny to the turnstyle touch   
Bunny whose bouquet set a course for bloom without decay.  
Get your broom and sweep the echoes of yesternights fallen freckles...away...

He finished the song and pulled the guitar off, laughing hysterically at how bad the mid-song translation had gone. Months later, when I was more proficient in English, he would play the song for me in English, and I found that it was actually a very sad song. He was right when he said that meanings could be lost in translation, especially such a short-notice translation.

We all were cracking up. The words had neither rhymed nor matched the beat. Of course, we hadn't expected anything better, seeing as he was trying to translate the song while singing it. I couldn't imagine how hard that must have been. Once I calmed myself down, I looked at his laughing face. I had learned a lot from our adventures, and I know he did too. We had helped each other discover what the sand and the branch meant, and I felt close to Will because of that.

I tapped him lightly on the shoulder while everyone was still laughing. He turned to me, trying to quell his hysteria at his own failed translation. I waited a few seconds in silence, until his face straightened itself out.

"Kari, what is it?" he asked after I didn't say anything for a few seconds. I just smiled at him, then leaned forward and kissed him tenderly on the lips.

It only lasted for a second, but I could instantly feel the blood rushing into my cheeks. I couldn't see a mirror clearly, but I knew my face must have been every bit as red as his. This had sent everyone into a kind of stunned surprise, until Shark burst out laughing. Everyone else soon fell to laughing about it, too, and I got a lot of kidding from Yolei and Tai about it. After a few minutes, it had passed over and everyone was joking about other things, except for Will and I, who smiled at each other quickly. Then I noticed that Davis wasn't in the room.

I walked out, telling Tai that I was going to get some water, and I looked around for Davis. He wasn't in the apartment anywhere. I walked to the door and opened it out onto the balcony. High above, the stars were shining softly in the giant expanse of sky, each one straining against the slowly fading lights of the surrounding apartments. The night air was chilly, and a soft wind blew my hair into my face. I brushed it away and looked around. A little ways down, leaning on the railing and staring up at the sky, was Davis.

"Davis, are you okay?" I asked, genuinely concerned. I knew he had a crush on me. He had made that clear for the past year, and I used to flirt with TK just to tease him. This, of course, was different, and he understood that right away. I hadn't thought about how he'd feel about me kissing Will.

"Oh, hi Kari," he said quietly. I walked over to him and put my hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Davis, but, I just,"

"It's okay," he cut in. "I understand."

"I should have just told you," I said.

"It's okay, Kari. I'm fine with it. I just needed to step outside for a second." He explained.

"So we're still friends?" I asked hopefully.

"Of course! We'll always be friends," he said with a smile. I hugged him quickly.

"Don't you want to go back inside?" I asked.

"I'll go back in a few minutes. I promise," he told me.

"Okay," I said as I turned to leave. "Uh, Davis," I stopped and turned back for a second.

"Yeah?" he asked, looking back to me.

"Thanks," I said with a smile. He just smiled back.

I walked back into the apartment and headed for Tai's room again. I remembered my excuse for leaving as I reached the door, and walked over to the sink to pour a glass of water. My mind began to drift back to the time I had spent with Will in the digital world, when he had struggled to teach me the little English I now knew. I somehow thought that it might be a metaphor for what he had taught me over the past week or so, and for everything that I still didn't know. I smiled to myself.

I suddenly had the feeling that someone was watching me, but as I scanned the room there was nobody. I could have almost sworn that I heard a sound outside the back window of the apartment, but it must have just been the wind.


	42. Epilogue

Chapter 42: Epilogue

Could it really have been twenty four years? Twenty four years since I met Kari, twenty four years since we fought Myotismon and Daemon together, twenty four years since I was reunited with the rest of my team? It doesn't seem like it was that long. It seems like only weeks. I can still remember every event perfectly. Even twenty four years later, it still seems so close.

We've had many adventures since then. I won't go into detail, but we've continued to learn throughout our lives, right up to this point. I guess we're still learning, and we've got a lot to learn. I'm almost looking forward to seeing what the future holds for us, and Especially for Connor.

I suppose you'll need an explanation of who Connor is, s I'll start at the beginning. I eventually began my own band, with some pointers from Matt, and played with them in Japan. I finally wrote some songs of my own, both in Japanese and English, and I'd like to think my band was pretty popular. I also swam throughout my high school career. I made the junior Olympics, where I swam for America so that I could be on the same team as Shark. Within Tokyo, I was practically a legend. I led our school's high school to a championship every year for four years. Of course, nothing lasts forever, and I eventually had to move on.

I went to college back in America. I really wanted to reconnect with the rest of my family, but I certainly didn't forget all my new friends. I stayed in touch through the internet and the digital world, and I visited sometimes on holidays and during the summer.

Throughout college, I played with another small local band around campus. We did some fairly successful shows at the college, but never really got anywhere. I studied business management, and as soon as I graduated, I opened my own recording studio in Buffalo, New York. It's there that I started my family, and still I remain there to this day.

Kari studied very hard to learn English, and by the time we graduated from High school, she had all but mastered it. Her grammar was usually better than mine, and quite frankly, still is. She went to college in Japan and, as expected, studied to become a kindergarten teacher. She's great with kids, and I can't imagine her doing anything else. And that brings me back to my family.

I proposed to her as soon as I graduated from college. She accepted, and actually moved to America with me to teach in Buffalo. Of course, we take regular trips back to Japan. We go back at least every other weekend, usually going through the digital world. It's a surprisingly good system of transportation, especially since Izzy perfected his program for controlling the digital gates.

Connor is our son, and he's very much like his mother. He cares very much for other people. He has his own digimon partner now, Salmon, and the rambunctious little digimon sometimes drives me crazy. Still, I can't complain. I'm pretty satisfied with how my life has turned out so far.

Shark is probably the most interesting story out of the group, other than Matt and Gobumon's explorations. Shark did, of course, return to New York immediately after our fight with Daemon was over. The next morning, I found a note where he had slept saying that he couldn't take Japan any more, and that he had to get out. He said he'd email me from the public library as soon as he got home, and he did. We kept in touch as much as possible over the years, and I was amazed as his story unfolded before me.

He kept swimming and working out intensely through his high school years. AT that time, he claimed that he had nothing better to do with his free time He managed to stay in High school and pulled passing if not spectacular grades. As I said, he made the junior Olympic team for his freestyle and we had a great time at that. Then he really began to surprise everyone.

He was offered and accepted a full scholarship to the University of Hawaii. Jesse received a small scholarship to swim there also, and so they both flew off to the island paradise for college. As far as I know, they both focused primarily on swimming and studying while they were there. Shark went into psychology, and shocked everyone once again by graduating early. He opened his own practice and married Jesse. He is now Dr. Flander E. Connors officially, but he still tells his patients and friends to call him Shark. When asked his profession, he doesn't hesitate to say "shrink."

He and Jesse have three kids, the middle one being the same age as Connor. If you were wondering, Connor is named for Shark, despite the "shrink's" protests. I thought initially that it would be a silly idea, but Kari thought it was perfect. She said that she wanted a name that was important to us and meant something, so I guess Shark's real last name counts.

I think that was his plan all along. He certainly didn't want or take anybody's help to get to where he is. He did what he had to in order to survive his youth, worked his way into a college with his arms and legs, and studied hard so that he could enter a profession. Everyone counted him out, and he, with his switchblade in one hand and his middle finger raised sky-high on the other, showed them all up. He is still one of the most amazing people I have ever known.

Of course, what you've just read certainly isn't the end of our adventures. Far from it, what happened next still blows my mind. If it hadn't happened, I might have made the Olympics, of course, but I still would not trade the next part of our story for anything. It's so weird you almost have to believe it.

_Author's Note: Thansk to everyone who read this story to the end. I hope you liked it, and If you've got s story that you're writing, I'd love to read it, provided that it's more than 1000 words long ;) . I am going to post one more chapter into this story before I move on to my next big project. It'll be kind of a linking chapter between this story and the next. I plan on making it highly confusing to the point that you'll think I've lost my mind. Please tell me what you think of this story, I love getting feedback!_

_Just as a reminder, I don't own digimon or any of the characters associated with it. I did create Drakamon, his digivolutions, Will, Shark, Jesse, Ricky, and Laura on my own, as well as Uniquemon and his digivolution. All rights and stuff are still held by digimon's owners, whoever they are._


	43. SPECIAL BONUS TEASER CHAPTER

SPECIAL TEASER CHAPTER: The Beginning of the End

Caleb watched closely as Kari moved around the room. His eyes were rapidly changing colors as the lenses embedded in them flipped on and off. His eyes were naturally blue, but Slim had changed that severely. Now each time his eyes changed color, he saw the world slightly differently. Each color was a different vision setting, and as he scanned the room, his different visions told him that his opportunity had arrived. He had been debating for ages what the best course of action would be, and he had finally decided on one. The only problem was that now he couldn't seem to go through with it. He blamed it primarily on his family, and particularly on Shadowfox. The time he had spent with them had numbed his natural killer instinct, and now he felt pity for the poor girl, and that kept him from drawing his sword. In his mind, he prayed that Mew would show up to stop him, so that he'd have an excuse for not going through with it. He could then say that Mew had talked him out of it, and nobody would be able to say he just didn't have the cold, unfeeling heart that he always claimed to have.

Sure enough, his wish was granted. The little pink creature floated down from a nearby rooftop and hovered behind him, letting her presence be enough to pull Caleb away from the back window of the apartment.

"Why did you even bother coming?" he questioned.

"I don't really think that needs discussing," Mew replied in her soft, singsong voice. Of course, the voice would sound like nothing more than a soft purr to anyone who did not have Caleb's mind, his command over languages, and his ability to understand other's emotions through the tiny movements in their body.

"I told you, there is no other way. We both know what will happen if I don't," Caleb retorted.

"Let's go up to a rooftop to discuss this," Mew said as she floated up into the air. "Coming?"

Caleb watched her go, and debated staying and making her come back, just to prove a point. In the end, however, he decided that if he stayed, he risked having her not come back, and thus losing his excuse for chickening out. He crouched down on his powerful legs, and then exploded upward with incredible power. He leapt from the fifth-floor rear balcony of the building all the way to the roof of the twelve-story apartment complex behind it, alighting softly upon the graveled roof.

Caleb was technically a zafara, although in many ways he was no longer a member of the species. He had a rabbit-like body, somewhat anthromorphic, but not extremely so. He was just under four feet tall, and stood straight up on his hind legs. He had very dark yellow fur covering his entire body, except for the short white fur around his muzzle and the similar white fur which ran down from under his chin, across his chest and stomach down between his legs and ran along the bottom of his tail all the way to the end, at which an exceptionally large tuft of fur made a flat spade-shape right on the tip. His feet were almost identical to a rabbit's but his powerful legs ran mostly straight up into his body, which was a slight abnormality for his species, which usually kept its knees bent and crouched forward even when standing up. His arms were not very rabbit-like either, being long and skinny, almost lanky if it was not for the muscle that was tightly packed onto them. Physically, Caleb did not appear that strong. The fur helped to cover up a body which was very well-built and covered with lean muscle, which almost made Caleb look skinny. The biggest separation from a rabbit, however, was his ears. They were much closer to dog ears, long and floppy, hanging down over the side of his head. Zafaras normally have exceptional hearing, but Caleb's hearing abilities had been dramatically enhanced by a very old friend of his who had passed on many years ago. The last highly distinguishable feature of his species was a line of dorsal fins, the largest about four inches high and steadily decreasing in size as the progressed down his back, spaced roughly an inch apart running all along his spine down to the last six inches of his tail. They were an archaic leftover of evolution, from a million or so years ago when zafaras had been aquatic mammals. Since moving to land, the zafaras had evolved many of their appendages for survival, but for some reason the fins remained.

Caleb wore blue jeans, no shirt, and no shoes. He had two leather straps across his chest which held the sheaths for three swords on his back. The swords formed an X on his back, with the largest by itself and the other two running mostly perpendicular to it. He also had a sheathed sword strapped at each hip, and at his left hip was arguably his most valuable blade. The sheath was solid gold, and was ornately carved with tiny pictures of dragons and human warriors doing battle. The hilt of the sword was coated in golden dragon scales, and decorated with various jewels and dragon's teeth. It was molded so that the sword appeared to come from the mouth of a dragon's head, which was shaped centuries ago by the sword's creators. The sword held a great deal of power, and Caleb knew every way possible to manipulate its magic for deadly purposes.

Mew was almost nothing like Caleb. She was completely covered in very short fur of such a bright pink that it sometimes seemed to be nothing more than off-white. She appeared to be something of a short-limbed cat with bright pink fur and very large rabbit feet. She had a very long thin tail which, at the very end, grew thick for about a foot before ending. Her head appeared cat-like, but was always held very low, hiding her mouth close to her neck. Her big blue eyes seemed to penetrate everything she saw, which was not as much of an illusion as it initially seemed. Mew had the most powerful psychic mind that Caleb knew of, and Caleb knew about almost every powerful psychic in existence. Mew did not appear to be very strong, but those who knew about her knew that her docile nature masked the amazing power that she commanded.

"Let's hear it. Why are you stopping me?' Caleb demanded.

"Because you're not even giving her a chance. You have no faith in anybody but yourself, and that's your biggest problem," Mew told him.

"I have plenty of faith in people. I just don't have faith in their free will, so I'm going to take the tiny shred of free will that was given to me and use it to prevent you and Gaustal and all those other faggots from condemning her," Caleb said coldly.

"Once again, what makes you think she will fail? Even though you like to think so, you can't see the future any better than I can, and even if you could, it's not definite. Even Apocalypsering, who can look into the future, knows that what he sees can be changed by what people choose to do," Mew replied.

"You're right, Mew. I don't know what's going to happen. But spending a year on that ship, flying all over the place with all of Gaustal's little cronies will take its toll. If she dies now at least she'll have a fighting chance," Caleb said.

"Do you even understand how significant this event is, Caleb? This is the first time that all three of us have survived. This could be the last time that ever happens, and we have to give it a shot," Mew said.

"So you and Gaustal are willing to condemn her?" Caleb asked sarcastically.

"Caleb, you don't know that . . ."

"Shove it!" Caleb screamed. "I'm tired of hearing that. You know just as well as I do that there's no way she'll make it. Free choice isn't the reason to give it a shot; it's the reason not to! You know that she won't make it!"

"I won't let you kill her. You can do whatever you want to stop it from happening, but in the end the choices will be left up to her. If you try to lay a finger on her, I will stop you," Mew said slowly, staring coldly into Caleb's eyes.

Caleb pulled the sword from the golden sheath. The rubies that were the eyes of the dragon's head lit up brightly, and the blade sparkled and glowed with a mysterious golden light. "You're saying you'd fight me?" Caleb demanded. "Do you think you can win?"

"You're terribly confident for someone with your power. It's not an admirable quality," Mew said simply. She knew he understood, and she knew that those words would eat at him. He was very prideful that he didn't abuse the amazing power he had, just like she was.

Caleb sheathed his sword. He looked down at the roof, trying to think. He still knew that he wanted to stop everything from happening, but for some reason he was now unable to. He figured he could defeat Mew, though certainly not easily, but that was a fight he really wanted to avoid.

"What do I do, then? I want to stop this from happening. Give me an option," Caleb said.

"I don't see why you're so opposed to this. I think the fate of one is less important than the fate of the universe," Mew said.

"What if I don't really see it that way? I don't make very many choices, but this is one that I am making, that I don't want to have a hand in what Gaustal is going to do," Caleb said.

"Gaustal doesn't even know what you say he's going to do. Perhaps if you'd try to explain it to him, he would see things your way, but if you don't do that, then I'm afraid not even you can stop him from trying," Mew told him.

"I can't tell him. The last line of defense for me is the hope that he can't steel himself to it when he finds out at the last minute," Caleb explained.

"Then ignore it. Ignore everything we're doing. Go back home and sit and wait for it to be done," Mew told him.

"You know very well that I can't do that," Caleb said.

"Then I'm afraid I can't help you with this. I can only prevent you from making a big mistake," Mew said.

Caleb was silent. He had to think of some way to stop the events that had been set in motion, but he couldn't think of anything. For the first time in his life, he couldn't clearly see the way out of the mess that he was now in. The sensation of being totally at a loss for what to do was very new to him, and he didn't like it at all.

"Perhaps you should try to persuade Gaustal not to take them," Mew suggested, breaking Caleb's train of thought. "Despite what you may think, he has a great deal of respect for you. Even if he doesn't listen to you, you'll at least be a voice in his ear. In the end, that may very well help you, if, when he realizes the truth, he realizes all that you've done to prevent it from happening."

"He won't listen. When he gets his mind set on something, he doesn't stop until he gets what he's after. That's why he was insane enough to chase his little dream in the first place," Caleb said.

"And you don't think that dream is worth chasing?" Mew asked.

Caleb looked up again, staring squarely into Mew's eyes. "At the cost of a person's soul, no dream is worth chasing."

"If I can't convince you otherwise, I suppose we'll have to fight. We knew this was coming sooner or later," Mew said.

"I won't fight you. There's no point in doing that," Caleb said.

"You won't have a choice if you try to harm that girl again," Mew told him. "I will come after you if you do."

"I'm not going to harm her. You've convinced me that it would be rather counter productive," Caleb began.

"I'm glad you have some common sense left in you," Mew told him.

"All the same, I will do everything in my power to prevent Gaustal from completing his little quest. I will take no mercies save death when it comes to this point," Caleb said.

"I will not stand in your way, but know that Gaustal will not hesitate to fight you if he thinks you are standing in his way. As much as you disagree with him, I don't think you could bring yourself to kill him." Mew reminded him.

"I won't be so unsubtle in my approach. However, you must trust me to keep my word about not harming the girl. I'm sure you know of my speed, and so when I attempt to scare them all into not following Gaustal on his crazy mission, you will stand aside and let me do my work. Do I have your word?" Caleb asked.

"As long as I have your word that neither she nor any other among them will be harmed by your little plan," Mew said.

"The children will not be harmed, and their partners will not be killed or severely wounded. I'll give you that much," Caleb offered.

"It's a deal, then. I'll stand aside for your little plot, and I'll not inform Gaustal of what you are doing," Mew promised.

"Very well, we have ourselves a deal," Caleb said.

"At least that's settled. I think I'll lave now. I have no more business with you at the moment," Mew said.

"Well I've got something to ask you, then," Caleb said. "You keep going on and on about how this time is going to be different, just because all three of us survived. I'd like to know why you think that."

"For starters, it's not only that we all survived, but that Kari survived, and we've just finished debating how important she is. Remember, the last time she did, neither you nor I did. Secondly, Gaustal has already made more progress than he has in the past," Mew said.

"Mind clueing me in? I haven't been on that stupid toy ship of his in ages," Caleb said.

"Well, you could say that he's found Almeadon," Mew told him.

"He found it!" Caleb said, astonished. "The ancient map?"

"The very one. Now, he hasn't found it yet, but he has learned of its existence, which is another thing that has never happened before," Mew said.

"Just out of curiosity, how'd you find out about all of the previous cycles? Did you read my mind or steal Slim's files?" Caleb asked.

"Well, you explained it all to Gaustal and Sablin, and they've made it public knowledge around his ship. I had a pretty good idea about it before he told me from reading your mind, though," Mew laughed, putting her small paws up to her mouth and rolling over backwards in mid-air.

"That's why I hate psychics," Caleb muttered to himself.

"I heard that," Mew told him, laughing again in her very high pitched-squeaky purr.

"My next question is how does he plan to find the pieces?" Caleb asked.

"I guess he'll just send out search parties. If you recall, the pieces are not randomly distributed. Each piece can be used as an important map within the world in which they're hidden. There's bound to be some kind of lore about the map pieces in each of the worlds," Mew explained.

"That's pretty typical of him. Assume that this thing will be handed to him on a silver platter," Caleb said sarcastically.

"I'm sure he doesn't take it that lightly. For one thing, he expects Almeadon to be guarded by something greater than just a little monster from that world. Chaos isn't stupid, and Gaustal knows it. That's why he's trying to gather up as much power as he can, he believes that it will be necessary for finding all of Almeadon," mew said.

"So he's going to come here before he even starts to look for it?" Caleb asked.

"Yes. I believe he is picking up supplies right now, and then he will come here. You probably have about a week before he arrives," Mew told him.

"That's plenty of time. I figure to stage my little confrontation with them tomorrow, and then when they see me on the ship, they'll know not to go anywhere near it," Caleb said with an air of simplicity.

"Do you really expect that to work?" Mew asked.

"What do you mean? If I didn't expect it to work, why would I bother?" Caleb retorted, angry that Mew was doubting him again.

"It's not that you'd lose. I know very well that you can beat the living daylights out of all of them at once without taking a single hit. But have you ever considered their position? Or their past reactions to overwhelmingly powerful opponents?" Mew questioned.

"Why does it matter so much?" Caleb asked, now very annoyed.

"I'm surprised you don't see it. You and I both know that you are and always will be much more powerful than they are. They will never be able to beat you no matter how hard they try. However, they don't know that. In the past, they've been beaten down by opponents who seemed invincible at the time, and they've always found a way to win. We both know they'll never win against you, but they don't know that, because they don't understand just how powerful you are. Even if you do beat them badly, there's no reason to expect them to just run away scared. No matter how many times you tell them that you are invincible, they will still believe that there is a way to beat you. When you show up with the ship, they may be surprised, but Gaustal will placate them easily, and play you off as an arrogant wacko who just likes to pick fights. He's a master of twisting people's minds with words. When they hear that, combined with their experience of overcoming seemingly impossible odds, the only thing you have left to hope for is that they simply refuse to join. I'm cannot see the future, but I think that is rather unlikely," Mew finished.

Caleb closed his eyes and sighed. For the second time that night, Mew had gotten the better of him because he had been blinded by his own faulty logic. It was rare for him to make such an error. For him to make two in the same night was clearly a sign that his mind was not in the right place. He was silent for a long time, contemplating the possibility that he shouldn't even try to stop this. Gaustal was far too arrogant; he would never give up once he learned everything that had to be done. Caleb's only chance was to keep it a secret the entire time.

"I'm still going to fight them tomorrow," Caleb said, looking up. "As futile as it may seem, if it has a chance of working, even a small one, I'm going to try it. I don't want to put the weight of the world on this kid's head, but Gaustal will once he discovers what she is. I'm going to prevent that at all costs."

"As I have said, I will reveal nothing to him," Mew said.

There was a long silence between the two. Caleb again closed his eyes and lowered his head, deep in thought. He wondered for a few second if it would be effective at all to explain everything to Kari, the child he was so concerned about. Perhaps if he told her everything that was about to happen, and most specifically what would happen to her, they would at least leave her behind. It would make sense to do so. Then again, eventually her guilt at not fulfilling this imagined duty that the universe had assigned to her might force her to attempt it anyways. It was something that Caleb had considered, but not at length. The idea that Kari might simply accept her fate was always a possibility, and if she did, Caleb figured that it would work in her favor, but he severely doubted it. He knew far too many people who seemed to have hearts of gold but were unable to steel themselves when the moments of greatest peril came, and this child was no different. It is the nature of life to cower in the face of death, even if a person denies that they are afraid and charges headlong into sure annihilation, there is always a shadow of a doubt floating in the back of their minds, telling them to turn and flee. Caleb had felt this fear before, but he also had the supreme confidence in his own ability that made him believe that nothing could kill him, even though he owed his life to another zafara named Shred back on Neopia. She wasn't strong enough to join Gaustal's foolish little dreamboat, but Caleb still kept in touch with her. Now, however, he questioned Kari's ability to face her fate. He sensed that she would falter at the last moment, like in the ancient Biblical story of the woman who looked back at the burning city only to be turned to salt, and ultimately prove Gaustal's mission to be nothing more than a pipe dream which he had roped an entire generation into believing in.

Mew, on the other hand, was more concerned about Caleb. She knew that he understood the prophecies and what Kari could be able to do for the universe, and yet he wanted to stop it. It didn't make a great deal of sense to Mew. Caleb had always been very logical, but his actions now seemed to be anything but. She was wondering if perhaps he wasn't in his right mind. She certainly knew how powerful psychics could be, being one herself, and though she believed that Caleb was too strong to control she had never tested him and thus did not have any real reason to believe that. She wanted badly to probe his mind for answers, but she knew that he could sense that and it would only anger him.

"What's Shadow been up to lately anyways?" Caleb asked suddenly, forgetting temporarily about the problem at hand.

Mew was surprised by the question. "Haven't you visited him lately?" she asked.

"I've been really busy looking through Slim's old records, mostly the chronosphere records. I haven't been near the ship in weeks," Caleb said.

"I guess he's okay, for now anyways. He still writes and sings and stuff. Why don't you go ask him yourself?" Mew questioned.

"I will. I'll be hitching on to the ship after my little escapade here, after all," Caleb reminded her.

Caleb no longer had a biological connection to anything, really. Slim had rewritten Caleb's genetic coding, and now he was a zafara in appearance only. Shadowfox could be considered his father in the fact that Shadow had impregnated Caleb's mother, who then bore the little bundle of fur, but any remaining biological connection had been erased by Slim's tinkering with Caleb's genes.

"I think it's best that I leave now," Mew said. "Should I give any message from you?"

"Yeah, tell Gaustal that he's an ass," Caleb said, laughing for the first time that night. "You can quote me on that."

"I'll be sure to," Mew said. With a quick flash of light she disappeared. Caleb figured she had directly teleported to the ship. Not that it greatly mattered to him that she deliver the message, he told Gaustal his opinion of him on a regular basis. What mattered was that now he had a long wait until the morning, when he hoped to put his plan into action. He thought briefly about sleeping until morning, but he wasn't the least bit tired. He had just slept two nights ago, and wouldn't need to again for at least another two. So now he had to pass the long hours until it would be morning by himself.

He jumped from his current rooftop to the roof of a nearby building. He ran silently across it to the other side and proceeded to jump effortlessly up to s slightly higher roof. He continued along this roof and then hopped down to the next roof. He proceeded in this manner through the city until he reached a wide open park. He hopped down form the roof and landed softly on the grass, using one hand to steady himself. His eyes again began to flash in many different colors as he scanned the park, making sure that nobody was there to see him. A few nocturnal animals showed up in his infrared and night vision, and one or two wires and lampposts on his electrical vision, but nothing notable. His metal analysis vision, however, revealed a strange capsule buried about ten feet underground in the middle of the park. He figured it was supposed to be a time capsule, some kind of experiment being done by a school class in the city in order to learn about how time changes things. Of course, he had access to and had used the Chronosphere, which was far more complex than a simple capsule, but the thing still intrigued him.

He walked to the center of the park and looked down at the ground. Digging with his paws wasn't beneath him, but he wanted to think of an easier and less noticeable way to get to the capsule. He decided that magnetism was his best bet. He pulled out the sword that was bound at his right hip, a very long curved one-sided saber with the sharp edge forged of diamond. The rest of the sword was solid, high quality steel. He had used this trick several times, but never to pull something out of the ground. He held the hilt of the sword up to his mouth, pointing the blade away from himself, and then began to blow along the length of it. His breath quickened, and then he began to summon an amazing power that he had been given along with the golden blade which remained in its sheath. He charged his breath with electricity, sending shockwaves along the blade faster and faster, slowly beginning to magnetize it. He heard a bench about fifty feet away begin to squeak, and he paid close attention to it, just in case the magnet became strong enough to drag it over to him. Luckily, however, the ground below him split open as the capsule was dragged out of it.

It stuck to the sword until Caleb pried it off by shear strength and held it away, swinging the blade rapidly through the air to demagnetize it. He sheathed the sword and turned his attention to the capsule. He was stunned to find that it had no lid, nor any means of opening it. He began to examine it with his eyes again, checking for any kind of way that it could be opened. Finding none, he sat down in the grass, staring at the curious capsule. He couldn't fathom why any human on the planet would make a time capsule that couldn't be opened. At last his curiosity got the better of him, and he pulled out the diamond-edged saber once again. Holding the capsule out in front of him with one hand, he sliced cleanly through it with his sword. The end fell into the dirt, revealing a hollow center chamber.

Caleb once again sheathed his sword and looked inside. At first it appeared empty, but as he scanned it with his various vision settings again, he saw a rolled up piece of paper inside of it.

"Thank God I didn't accidentally slice this," Caleb said as he pulled the paper out. He unrolled it carefully. His eyes suddenly grew wide, and he stared at the paper in amazement. It was a square, about six inches by six inches, ripped on two sides, and obviously the corner piece of a map. The paper seemed very old, and yet not frail at all. The language of the few letters on it, however, gave away what it was. The language was that of Chaos, which he had only seen used a few times by Slim. This was a corner piece of Almeadon.

Caleb continued to stare at the map piece. According to Slim's records, no pieces of Almeadon had ever been found in past cycles. It slowly began to dawn on Caleb just how significant this cycle might be.

He shook his head quickly, shaking off the strange feeling that had overcome him. This was not the time or the place to reconsider his position. He picked up the capsule and tossed it in a nearby trash can, folded the map piece, shoved the slip of paper into his pocket, and walked quickly out of the park.


End file.
